We've Done The Same Thing All Before
by lunarocks14
Summary: What if Blaine's parents had sent him to McKinley after the Sadie Hawkins incident, rather than Dalton? What would that mean for everyone? Set at the start of Season One and continues through Two and Three, mainly canon-compliant. Eventual Klaine.
1. Chapter 1: Pilot

**A/N: Each chapter will cover the span of an episode, and have the same name as the episode or one of the songs in the episode. It'll stick to canon as much as possible, but obviously have Blaine there, which will change it up a lot. So, yes, this is going to be a huge project. The chapters are going to get longer, as a warning. Speaking of; Warnings are for swearing, homophobic bullying, lots of angst. **

**Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Glee. If I did, episode 4x04 wouldn't be happening.**

**Chapter One: Pilot.**

Kurt walked into school with a scowl on his face, full of the mixed emotions that came with the daily Dumpster dumping. The anger from being tossed into a Dumpster and the gratitude to Finn Hudson for having let him take off his bag and jacket. It was the one attribute that separated Finn from the other idiots who were on the football team, the characteristic that truly made the tall brunet stand out amidst the other letterman jackets; he had at least _some _kindness in him. Kurt couldn't help but admire him for that. And, truthfully, it was hard not to like one of the few people who showed you kindness of any sort when you were one of the most hated kids in school.

It was while lost in thoughts of Finn that he heard a voice calling his name. Looking up, he saw Principal Figgins, beckoning to him from his office. Wincing and trying to work out what he'd done to get into trouble already – he had been in trouble for his clothing choices before, as well as for turning up to class covered in trash, which was completely unjust but he'd given in on caring – he stepped slowly in, giving him a nervous smile. "Yes, Principal Figgins?"

Figgins gestured to the short, black-haired boy who Kurt hadn't actually noticed yet. "This is Brian Anderson. Can you please show him around for the next two weeks, as his buddy?"

Kurt blinked at him before glancing at the aforementioned boy, who met his eyes with what looked like a carefully schooled lack of expression.

"Hi. I'm Kurt Hummel." He offered. On receiving a nod in reply, he waited for any further comment before shrugging slightly, gesticulating towards the door and asking, somewhat lamely, "Shall we?" before stepping outside of the office.

Walking down the corridor with the shorter boy, the silence became too uncomfortable within a few seconds, and he had to speak. "So, Brian, I'm guessing you're not a freshman?"

Hazel eyes blinked at him with their first sign of expression: amusement. "It's Blaine, actually. Everyone just presumes they've misheard me or something, I guess, because it's an uncommon name. And no, I'm not a freshman, I'm a sophomore." He gave a half-smile which didn't reach his eyes.

"Oh. Well, yeah, that and Figgins is a moron." Kurt responded, feeling a little bad for having called Blaine the wrong name, but it was Figgins' fault. He wondered why Blaine hadn't corrected the principal. Maybe he just picked his battles carefully. It was probably a smart idea.

Blaine stopped walking, frowning slightly at the lockers, and stepping forward to fiddle with the lock on one. "I think – I think this one's mine." As it clicked open, the code correct, he threw another half-smile over his shoulder at Kurt. "We didn't have lockers at my old school..." Reaching in, he pulled out a textbook, along with his timetable, reading off "English, English room 3."

"Me too! C'mon, I'll show you there now. Class is about to begin anyway." Glancing at Blaine, he watched as the shorter boy flinched at the loud crash of a door hitting a wall as some popular kid made a spectacular entrance, and felt bad for him. He didn't know where Blaine had been before here, but McKinley was a fairly intimidating place unless you'd just come from juvie or something. In fact, it was probably pretty intimidating even if you had come from juvie.

Focussing his eyes ahead again, he was stopped by the sudden appearance of McKinley's own short, brunette, irritating diva. "Kurt! I just wanted to remind you about Glee club today, because now Finn's joined I need all the back-up singers I can get, and-" Here Rachel's attention was caught by noticing Blaine. "Hello! I'm Rachel Berry." She stuck her hand out with a bright smile.

Blaine shook her hand, eyes wide in a rabbit-caught-in-headlights expression. "Blaine Anderson. It's a pleasure to meet you, Rachel."

Kurt got the impression that Blaine's gentlemanly manners had been ingrained in him since birth, since people rarely find it a pleasure to meet Rachel Berry. Hold on- what did she say about Finn? "Wait, Finn's joining Glee? Since when did Finn sing?" And why would he want to join Glee club? No-one on the football team would join Glee club, unless they were being blackmailed or something. Which he wouldn't put past Rachel, but Mr Schuester was one of the good teachers, so it was pretty unlikely that he'd blackmail a student.

"Mr Schuester heard him singing in the shower, and with vocal training, he could be the perfect male lead for me." Rachel explained, eyes fixed on Blaine. "We need to extend him a warm welcome. So, Blaine, why weren't you shown around with the other freshmen?"

"Uh, because I'm a sophomore..."

"Oh! Where did you go before here?"

"Westerville High School." Blaine looked vaguely bemused by the sudden inquisition, but answered politely. He had to have the patience of a saint.

"Why did you move?" Rachel inquired, and the bemusement on Blaine's face faded, replaced by the same carefully blank expression he'd given Kurt earlier.

Kurt, who felt that Rachel was being too nosey for his liking, noticed the way that Blaine shifted slightly, as if uncomfortable. This decided him, and he pretended to check the time, before announcing, "We better get to class. Later, Berry." Adjusting his bag, he led Blaine away and ignored Rachel calling after him to point out that they shared the same class.

"Thanks." Blaine murmured, after a few seconds, so quietly that Kurt wasn't sure he'd said it.

Giving him a smile and a small shoulder-nudge, he shrugged slightly. "So, that's Berry. She's..." He let out a long breath, trying to decide how best to describe her.

"A little over-enthusiastic?" Blaine offered.

Well, that was certainly true enough. Not wanting to come across as too cruel by ranting about her, he merely shrugged. As they entered the classroom, Kurt hesitated, watching Blaine sit down in an empty seat before taking his usual seat next to Mercedes. He felt bad about this a few moments later as Rachel claimed the seat next to Blaine. If Kurt had been religious, he would've been silently praying that she wouldn't freak him out again with the questions, but he settled for anxiously watching as the girl started babbling at Blaine.

The amused smile Blaine shot him a few seconds later reassured his nerves, though, and he settled back in his chair to discuss the latest edition of _Vogue_ with Mercedes, waiting for their teacher to arrive.

* * *

In Glee club, he found out that yes, indeed, Finn _could_ sing, impressively well, although he had looked very startled the whole time. Berry seemed to have that effect on guys. This excluded him, although that was partly because she had messed up his hair. And, well, she didn't seem to be interested in him in the way that she was interested in Finn. Obviously, she hadn't realised that Finn had a girlfriend; although how she'd missed that news flash, he had no clue. The pair spent most of their time being sickeningly cute, while simultaneously managing to be popular, self-righteous and incredibly annoying.

Blaine had been mysteriously absent during lunch, then suddenly appeared in time for Kurt to show him where his next lesson was, before disappearing again at the end of the day. Since he had Glee, he couldn't chase the boy down, not that he had his number or address or _anything_ he could contact him with. Maybe he'd had to go home to eat lunch or something. Some kids did have overly-strict parents. It'd probably get him on the radar of the cool kids if they figured it out, but being friends with Kurt was probably enough to get him on the radar anyway. It was fairly easy to get on their radar, really...

Deciding not to worry about it, and to maybe invite Blaine to sit with him and Mercedes at lunch the next day, he went to bed early, packing a spare change of clothing to take to school tomorrow. Since Finn had joined Glee, he wouldn't be surprised if the jocks wanted revenge on the Glee members for having coerced Finn to join their 'homo explosion' club or something equally inane, and he wanted to be prepared for any slushies that might come his way.

* * *

Apparently Finn had managed to hide his new club membership from the other jocks, because the usual Dumpster-tossing the next day went without any other incidents. However, it was followed by something a lot less usual; the question "Hey, do you... Do you need a hand?" Blaine stood over the Dumpster, eyes flicking nervous over to where the jocks were walking off and swapping high-fives. It appeared that the idiot who had been holding Kurt's jacket and bag had launched them at Blaine before leaving, as he was clutching the jacket and had the bag slung over his shoulder.

Kurt reached out a hand, and Blaine grabbed it, pulling him out and catching him, letting him go quickly. He tried not to let this get to him – most guys weren't happy with being close to him, because they just presumed that he was gay. Why would Blaine be any different?

Blaine held out his jacket and bag. "Um... Here. One of those guys threw it at me as I was walking over." Glancing uncertainly over his shoulder in the direction of the jocks, he continued "So... What've you got first?"

"Oh, um, Maths." Taking his jacket, he pulled it on, slinging his bag over his shoulder, before setting off for class in step with Blaine. "Thank you for catching them. Not throwing me in there with them on is kind of Fi- Hudson's one saving grace. Along with being an amazing singer, I mean."

"Oh, so he is a good singer, then?" Blaine inquired, after a moment in which he seemed unsure of whether or not he should respond to the part about the Dumpster toss. Maybe he decided it was bad manners to mention it. Or he just didn't want to rub salt into the wound. Probably the latter.

"Yeah, he is. He's not that bright, but he's definitely a good singer. Rachel certainly seemed impressed, at least." Kurt added quickly, not wanting to admit that he was impressed, too. That wouldn't help with the rumours about him being gay.

"This is probably a stupid question, but- why can't_ you_ be the male lead?" Blaine asked curiously.

Kurt would never admit it, but it was nice to see Blaine showing some sort of emotion. The first day, the only emotion he'd shown was distraction. It wasn't surprising, really. Most people acted a little distracted their first day at McKinley, since they were too busy trying to work out how to function there to concentrate. Even if you'd been to a public school before... McKinley was different. It was worse.

"Because I'm a countertenor." Kurt explained. "You don't know what that means, do you?" He sighed, seeing the confusion on the hazel-eyed boy's face increasing. He'd have to put it into terms simple enough for anyone to understand. "It means I sing like a girl. And I talk like one, too, which you'll have noticed."

The bitterness in his voice had Blaine giving him a look of sympathy. "Well, I think you have a lovely voice." Blaine responded, shrugging lightly.

Kurt just about managed not to stop himself from tripping. That was probably the nicest thing anyone had ever said to him. "Th-thank you."

Blaine glanced down at the floor, which Kurt was glad for, as it meant he couldn't see Kurt's blush. "You're welcome."

* * *

Despite his intentions to ask to Blaine to lunch, he completely forgot and Blaine disappeared at lunch, yet again. This continued throughout the week, until, on the following Monday, he noticed a flash of curly black hair as he was passing the Library- the_ Library_? Entering for what was probably the first time, apart from when he was hiding from slushie attacks, he sat down next to Blaine, who looked up from the book he was reading and gave a guilty start. "Oh! Hey there, Kurt."

Kurt raised an eyebrow at him, glancing around. "So this is where you've been disappearing to for the past week."

Blaine blushed slightly. "Yeah, well, I... wasn't sure if you'd want me around. Y'know. At lunch. I mean, I'm just the new kid..."

He trailed off at the appalled look that Kurt was giving him. "Just the new kid?" Watching him for a moment, it occurred to him that Blaine barely talked to anyone at this school, apart from him, and if he didn't even feel like he was friends with Kurt... "I know it must feel like you're not fabulous enough to be my friend, but in reality, I have incredibly low standards." Waiting for the reluctant smile to appear on Blaine's face at his teasing, he stood up. "C'mon. You're not supposed to eat in here, anyway."

"I don't actually have any lunch," Blaine admitted.

Kurt gave him a shocked look, wondering if Blaine had actually eaten lunch at all this week, and feeling horribly guilty for not having noticed. "Well, I'll buy you some, then."

Blaine stood up, and smiled at him. "Thank you." He said, quietly.

"You're paying me back, Anderson." Kurt responded, just to see the smile light up Blaine's eyes at the easy way he joked with him. It was a long way from the half-smile which hadn't reached Blaine's eyes when he'd first met him a few weeks ago. "Hey... can I have your number?" He asked, slightly hesitantly. "Y'know, so I can track you down through the sound of your phone going off if you decide to hide from me again."

Blaine's head shot up. "I wasn't trying to hide from you-"

"Blaine, I was kidding." Kurt reassured him, inwardly slapping his forehead with his hand. "Here, put your number in my phone," he commanded, holding it out.

The shorter boy nodded, taking his phone and typing quickly before handing it back with a smile.

"Great! I'll just text you..." – Kurt quickly typed _Hey :) _and sent it – "Ta-da! C'mon, let's go before all the food's gone."

* * *

Glee had turned from a disaster into a success into a _complete _disaster. Well, that was pretty obvious. When your teacher announced that he was leaving because his wife was having a baby... yeah, that kind of put a downer on your club's future.

Unable to concentrate on his homework, Kurt stood up and stretched, wondering if he should unwind by dancing. Single Ladies nearly always made him feel better. Then again, his dad was home, and he wasn't thrilled about the idea of Burt realising he was gay. Especially not if he realised it while Kurt was wearing a unitard. Kurt bit his lip and glanced at his phone. He needed to talk to someone, to vent to someone about what was happening in the club.

Sitting down on his bed, he grabbed his phone, selected the contact he wanted, and hit 'call'.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Blaine! It's Kurt."

"Oh, hey." A beat of silence, then: "Was there something you wanted?"

Kurt lay back on his bed. "Not really. Well, actually, I- is it okay if I complain at you for a while?"

He could hear the smile in Blaine's voice as he answered, "It's fine."

So he explained about Mr Schuester's baby, and how he was leaving the school because of it, leaving Glee club, and how Rachel had decided that she was going to take over the club.

"... And she's not even the best singer in there; I'm definitely as good as her!"

"Aren't there any other teachers willing to take on Glee?" Blaine questioned.

"Of course not. We're the underdogs of the school and no self-respecting teacher wants to coach a bunch of underdogs." Disheartened, he sighed. "And Finn left."

"I bet he did. I- I'm sure it'll be okay. Either Rachel will be able to help you guys win, or one of the teachers will get fed up with her and take over just to stop her going on about how she runs a club now." Blaine paused, before asking, "Can I ask you a question?"

"You already did, but sure."

"Are... do you think we're friends?"

"I think we're best friends, Blaine. I mean, who else would put up with me complaining at them for hours on end? Thank you for that, by the way." And yes, they'd only known each other a couple of weeks, but it was true. Sure, Mercedes was his best friend, too, but he could have more than one best friend. Although the whole best friend thing was very fourth grade, so he should stop thinking about that now.

Blaine laughed, a warm and happy sound, before there was the sound of yelling in the background at Blaine's end, and he sighed down the phone. "Sorry, Kurt, I have to go. See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," Kurt answered, curious, as he put the phone down, as to who was yelling and why. He didn't know much about Blaine's home life – well, he didn't know much about Blaine, apart from the fact that the boy had curly hair, hazel eyes, was as careful with his emotions as Kurt himself and worked hard in class. Well, actually, he also knew that Blaine jumped at loud noises, flinched whenever someone called him 'Blainey-boy', hated tea but loved coffee, liked reading, and had the most amazing smile ever.

And he knew that he wanted to get to know Blaine better.

* * *

Kurt couldn't help scowling as he walked away from Glee rehearsal the next day. Sure, Mr Schuester had come back, and they'd sounded _great _belting out Don't Stop Believin' like that, but he hated the way he was being completely ignored. Firstly, his vocals were left in the background, and secondly, Finn hadn't even _glanced_ at him when assigning jobs! He was way more fashion-conscious than Mercedes. This was ridiculous...

Then again, he might as well get used to it. Despite how invisible he was feeling, he was still part of Glee club, doing what he loved and being the person he wanted to be. Well, mainly. He still hadn't told anyone that he was gay. Not even Mercedes or Blaine, and he told them nearly everything.

He was just wondering how long it was going to be before he was forced to tell everyone the truth and was left alone by them all.

**A/N: Yes, that was a reference to Struck By Lightning, if you noticed. ;) I hope you liked it! Feel free to review. Or just favourite/follow it, any of those would make my week. **


	2. Chapter 2: Push It

**A/N: I'd just like to thank everyone who followed, favourited or reviewed this fic. I checked my email the day after posting and nearly fell out of my chair when I saw that I had 45, all telling me that people had enjoyed my fic. You're all amazing.**

**I'm going to try to have a new chapter up every Thursday. I won't on the 1st of November, as I'm away for half-term, but I shall upload the chapter when I get home. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee. Surprised? Me, too.**

**Chapter two: Push It.**

"One day, you will all work for me." Kurt told the guys fiercely, trying to retain some of his dignity and still furiously wondering how Mr Schuester could be so incredibly oblivious. One small, feminine kid surrounded by a bunch of jocks next to a Dumpster. The math shouldn't be that difficult, and he couldn't help but resent the teacher for being so infuriatingly ignorant. Then again, Mr Schuester had been pretty popular at school, hadn't he? Being in the Glee club didn't instantly make you an underdog back then. That probably explained it.

He didn't bother fighting them as they lifted him up and dropped him into the Dumpster. There really wasn't much he could do, anyhow. Rolling his eyes, he listened to them jeering and high-fiving each other with a large amount of disgust.

Climbing out once they'd gone, and retrieving his bag from where the jock had dropped it, he wondered where Blaine was. He usually got to school at the same time as Kurt, often in enough time to pull him from the Dumpster.

Sighing, he shook his head, trying not to worry about his friend and instead to concentrate on getting to class without being slushied. And he needed to grab some deodorant, stat.

Blaine didn't show up to any of his classes – at least, not the ones Kurt shared with him – and he didn't see him at lunch either. At the end of the day, he fired off a quick text to Blaine, saying '_Didn't see you in school today. Are you okay?_'

The response, '_No, not really, but I'll be there tomorrow' _did not make him feel much better, and he went to Glee club with a heavy heart, bopping to Mercedes and Mr Schuester's vocals and wondering why he bothered with this club when he didn't enjoy being there half the time. And half the time, no-one seemed to recognise his existence, apart from Mercedes and Mr Schuester.

It didn't help that they were going to be slaughtered in next week's assembly, with the song that they were performing. Le Freak, really? The rest of the school already hated them, so why did they want to make it worse? At least if they were performing Kanye West, it would be something _popular _that people recognised, and that might actually get them less victimised. Well, he doubted it, but at least it wouldn't give people more reason to mock them. Convincing the rest of the school through _disco_ was hardly the best idea their Glee teacher had ever had. The song they were doing was not going to gain them any love whatsoever, and they were going to have less members by the time the others had finished torturing them.

He was pretty glad that the rest of the footballers knew about Finn being in the club by now. If they didn't, seeing him performing disco in front of the school without any prior warning whatsoever would get him annihilated.

Stalking away from the choir room, he arched an eyebrow as he heard Mercedes calling his name, and turned to look at her. "Yes?"

"White boy, I know you're not happy with being background vocals to Berry, and trust me, I'm not down with it either. But I know Glee club does make you happy, so don't give it up, okay?"

Inwardly rolling his eyes, he nodded slightly. "What made you think I would? But no, I won't. As long as you don't wear that outfit ever again. I wasn't joking when I said it makes you look like a technicolour zebra."

She smiled at him, and he went home in slightly better spirits, trying Blaine's number five times before giving in, sending him a text saying '_I hope you're okay_' before settling in to watch re-runs of _Friends_ on TV.

Blaine still hadn't responded when he finally went to bed at 11:30.

"Hey, Blaine." Kurt greeted the curly-haired boy at his locker the next day. "Are you okay?" He inquired, not letting on the anxiety he was feeling.

"Huh?" Blaine turned his eyes on Kurt with an absent expression. "Oh. Yeah, I'm fine. You?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He paused for a moment. "Where were you yesterday? Were you ill, or..."

Blaine hesitated, before nodding. "Yeah. Yeah... ill. I was throwing up all da-"

"TMI, Blaine, really." Kurt responded dryly, wrinkling up his nose at the thought and taking a subconscious step back.

With a sheepish laugh, Blaine nodded. "Sorry, my bad. And I'm sorry for worrying you, too. Mum kept practically pouring water down my throat, so between that and running to the bathroom, I didn't really have the time or energy to text..."

"TMI, again."

"Right, sorry, sorry." Blaine winced slightly in apology and grinned at him. "How was Glee club?"

"Ugh, don't mention it to me." Moving away from the locker to get out of Blaine's way, he fell into step with him as they set off for their first class. "We're performing _disco_ at the assembly."

"What's wrong with disco?"

Kurt presumed that Blaine was joking, but a look at his face convinced him that the opposite was true. The shorter boy's face was lit up with enthusiasm that kind of reminded him of an excited puppy... "Oh, God. You're lucky you have good taste in other areas, or this friendship would be over, Anderson."

Blaine looked injured. "But disco's gr-"

"Stop." Kurt smiled slightly to take away the sting of the command. "Feel free to perform it in front of the school, then."

"Uh, I like my head attached to my shoulders a bit too much to do that." Blaine paused. "Not that I think they're going to kill you! Oh, goodness. Don't come to me for friendly encouragement."

"I'll remember that in future." Kurt responded, rolling his eyes at his friend. "C'mon, let's get you to class before you manage to completely freak me out about this assembly."

Berry may have been annoying, but she was smart, Kurt had to give her that. Doing Push It would definitely give them a reputation. Hopefully a positive one, although with the choreography they'd come up with, it was going to be. Artie still seemed unsure about the whole thing, but anything that made sure that they didn't get fruit thrown at them was fine with Kurt. That facial had not been cheap.

He called Blaine later, since he still disappeared straight after school. Kurt wasn't actually certain how Blaine actually got to school, since he lived out in Westerville, but was too young to drive. He must be getting lifts in from his parents, who Kurt had yet to meet.

Blaine picked up on the first ring.

"Hey, Kurt. You okay?"

"Of course, I'm fine. How are you?"

Blaine gave a non-committal sound. "So, what was the Glee meeting about?"

Kurt wriggled a little to get comfortable on the couch; a warm feeling in his stomach at the fact that Blaine had remembered that he had a meeting. "Berry wanted to change the number for the assembly, so we're not doing La Freak anymore."

"Damn, La Freak is one of my favourite songs." Blaine responded, and Kurt could practically _sense _his puppy eyes after Kurt's incredulous laugh. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. You're just jealous of my good tastes."

"Uh-huh. Jealous, that's definitely the word for it." Kurt teased him. "Well, it's nice to know that _one_ person in the audience would've been appreciative of it. Aside from Mr Schue, I mean."

Blaine laughed. "I'm sure everyone would've loved it once they heard you singing."

"You've never even heard me sing, Blaine." He responded dryly.

"Any comment I make to the contrary here will just make me sound like a stalker, so-" There was a yell in the background, and Blaine sighed. "I have to go, either way. Dinner time. I'll see you tomorrow."

Kurt stared at the phone after Blaine had hung up, wondering _–_ not for the first time – about Blaine's home life. He never seemed overly thrilled when talking about his parents, but his mother had cared enough to try and get him to feel better while he was ill... Maybe it was just the tension that most teenagers had with their parents. He'd never really understood that, although that might've been because the way people complained about their mothers was always a sore point for him, and he'd never had particular problems with his dad, except for some queries about the clothes Kurt sometimes chose to wear. He didn't know how many more times he could repeat the words 'Fashion has no gender, Dad!' before his father stopped believing him.

Well, whatever Blaine's home life was like, thinking about it wasn't going to get Kurt's homework done.

Everyone seemed to be having second thoughts, which was the opposite of good, as they had about two minutes until the curtains opened and they had to sing in front of the school to prove to them that joining Glee club was a good idea.

Kurt glanced around at the other five members. Finn was staring, pale-faced, at the curtains, Rachel was tapping her foot and chewing on her lip, Artie was murmuring with Tina, both looking solemn, and Mercedes was stood next to Kurt, pretending to be completely unconcerned.

Kurt himself wasn't actually all that concerned. It wasn't as if his reputation could get any worse. He already faced a daily onslaught of bullying, and besides them actually killing him, there wasn't much they could do that he hadn't already been through.

"Right! Mr Schue's going to introduce us now, and then, it's show time. Just try not to mess it up!" Rachel offered the words as what Kurt presumed was supposed to be encouragement. Judging by the looks on the others' faces, it hadn't worked for them, either.

"I th-think I'm g-going to th-th-throw up," Tina stuttered, and Artie grabbed her hand in what was probably meant to be reassurance, but from her wince it seemed that he'd only succeeded in breaking her hand. Kurt suppressed a sigh. They were supposed to be performers; if even this made them nervous, however would they ever survive in a hall with thousands of people watching?

"Positions, guys!" Rachel hissed, and they all quickly moved, brushing away their insecurities – for a short while – to immerse themselves in the song and the dance.

Blaine couldn't stop staring. He'd turned up at the assembly unsure of what to expect, as Kurt hadn't actually told him which song they were performing instead of Le Freak, and it had somehow slipped his mind to ask. And then the music had started and his mouth had fallen open, and was still open, and his mind was kind of a mess.

Why had no-one warned him that Kurt was one of the sexiest guys on the Earth? He'd noticed that Kurt was cute, of course, and told himself sternly to ignore it since Kurt was his friend, pretty much his only friend, but... he hadn't expected this. The choreography, his expressions, and what little of his voice Blaine could distinguish from the others... wow. He didn't think he'd ever be able to forget this performance. And it seemed he wasn't the only one who had enjoyed it, he realised, as it ended and almost the entire student body, led by Jacob Ben Israel, leapt to its feet, applauding and screaming. Ducking his head slightly as the noise became too much for him, he shook his head slightly, trying to clear it of all X-rated thoughts before he had to go and tell Kurt – his _best friend_, he reminded himself – that the performance had been brilliant. It had, really. He was just going to have to censor out most of his thoughts.

The thing was, he considered, noticing that Mr Schuester wasn't standing up – he felt a little bad for the teacher, who was obviously going to be in trouble – he really should tell Kurt that he was gay. He wanted to, of course, because Kurt was his best friend even if he hadn't known him all that long. It was just that... well, he'd seen how catty Kurt could be, even with his friends, and if he ended up hating Blaine for being gay... he wasn't sure he could handle that. Because then it would turn out like Westerville, except worse.

Filing out with the rest of the students, he darted quickly in the direction of the choir room, where he was grateful to find only the Glee kids, minus Rachel. Mr Schuester must have been talking to Figgins, he realised, looking around at the appalled faces as he stepped slowly inside. Rachel was probably somewhere else, beating herself up over it. She did have a good heart, even if she could be a little misguided sometimes. Much as he'd appreciated the performance, he did recognise that it wasn't going to have gotten the club into Figgins' good books.

"Out of the kindness of my heart, I'm not gonna say 'I told you so', but... I told you so." Artie announced, receiving scowls from the rest of the group at his words.

"Th-this is all Rachel's fault, and n-now we're g-going to have to d-disband Glee and it's not f-fair!" Tina slumped into a chair, looking disappointed.

Mercedes shot her a sympathetic look, and Blaine took the initiative to step fully into the room. As they all turned to see who was interrupting their pity party, he spoke. "Uh, hey. I'm Blaine – Kurt's friend. I just wanted to say that I thought you were all brilliant. And the rest of the school seemed to think so, too." Ducking his head a little, he shot Kurt a quick smile, and received one in return.

Tina was beaming. "Th-thank you, Blaine."

"You're welcome. And, uh, I hate to say it, but Figgins was yelling for everyone to get to class. It's not as if it's going to help much if you guys stand around here, though, right? So..." He trailed off.

"Do you think they'll think Glee club's cool now, though?" Finn suddenly asked, causing everyone to stare at him.

Mercedes rolled her eyes at him. "I don't think one song's gonna change their mind totally, Hudson. But Blaine's right; we should get to class. Or we'll be in even more trouble." Grabbing her bag, she waved at Kurt before heading out.

Artie and Tina followed, and Finn left soon after, obviously having decided that worrying about his reputation wasn't worth the trouble he would get in if he missed class.

"So, they seem... nice." Blaine offered uncertainly, glancing after them. He hadn't really spoken to any of them before, apart from Mercedes.

Kurt snorted. "They can be," he allowed, after Blaine raised an eyebrow at him inquisitively. "I mean, Mercedes is, obviously. Tina's usually very quiet. Then again, it's hard to get a word in when Berry never shuts up."

Blaine gave him a thoughtful look, considering his words. It seemed to him like maybe Kurt needed to be a bit more lenient with them. They did seem friendly, from what little he'd seen of them, and Kurt's only complaint with them so far seemed to be that Rachel didn't stop talking. He could be totally wrong here, but it seemed like Kurt needed to let them in a little more, as opposed to be the cold-hearted, sarcastic person he suspected that a lot of them saw Kurt as. Blaine had been lucky not to have ended up on the receiving end of that part of his personality.

In truth, he knew that the only reason Kurt was more friendly to him than he was to anyone else was because Blaine had been so nervous on arrival at the school that Kurt had taken pity on him and treated him a lot more gently than he might have otherwise done.

"What?" Kurt asked, frowning a little at him.

"... Nothing. Come on, let's get to class."

"Three of the Cheerios joined Glee," were the first words out of Kurt's mouth when he saw Blaine the day after the Cheerios auditioned.

Blaine blinked at him, hand frozen in the act of opening his locker. "And this is... a good thing?" He tried, seeming unsure.

"I'm not sure yet, personally. Berry's not happy, because one of them, Quinn, is dating Hudson and she's got the hots for him." He rolled his eyes, hiding the flicker of jealousy. It was alright for some, to be able to be so obvious about for their crushes. He had to hide his, or he'd be beaten up by the entire football team, including his crush.

"Oh. Well, I mean, it might be good for the club's reputation, right?" Blaine asked, opening his locker, pulling some books out and shutting it again.

Kurt half-nodded. "Maybe."

"I guess you'll have to wait and see. Once the Cheerios join, you might get a few more of the footballers joining." Blaine pointed out.

"Maybe. They'll probably just be doing it in an attempt to get the girls to notice them, though." He hesitated slightly before speaking again. "Have you thought about joining, at all?"

A slightly panicked expression flitted across Blaine's face but was gone before he could ask. "Not really, I mean, I don't know how good I am, and it's your thing anyway, and I'm just trying to catch up on work right now, you know?"

Kurt cast him a curious glance, wondering why he was rambling in what seemed like panic. Maybe he was a really terrible singer and didn't want Kurt to know and therefore judge him, or he had bad stage fright. The second seemed to fit better, and he didn't want to make Blaine uncomfortable, so he simply nodded. "Sure. I'll see you at break, then." He waved slightly, turning to head to Physics.

He'd just have to make it his mission to hear Blaine singing, at some point.

**A/N: Blaine's POV! Thank you for reading, it'd make my day if you reviewed and thank you again if you're following this!**


	3. Chapter 3: Mercy

**A/N: Thank you for keeping with this fic! And just to clarify, Blaine's hair in this is styled like it was in Season Two, specifically in Never Been Kissed.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Glee, there would be a lot less focus on the adults' storylines... **

**Chapter Three: Mercy.**

"Why are some people such jerks?" Blaine asked rhetorically as he pulled Kurt out of the Dumpster, brushing his shoulder off with the usual apologetic look. He seemed to blame Kurt's problems on himself.

Kurt shook his head, taking his bag with a "thank you". As they set off for class together, he shrugged. "It's the way the world works, Blaine. The strong prey on the weak."

"I think it's the other way around." Blaine commented. "The weak prey on the strong, because they know that while there are more of them, they'll be stronger, and they're jealous of their strength so they need to feel better." He finished this statement and glanced at Kurt as if unsure of what his reaction would be.

"Deep, Blaine." Kurt commented dryly, and Blaine flushed, changing the subject before Kurt had the chance to apologise for the way in which he'd brushed off Blaine's encouraging words.

"I need to get my Math book out of my locker. Coming?"

Kurt pushed away the guilt he was feeling over the comment and followed him; listening as Blaine began talking about the homework he'd been set.

"I'm struggling with the French homework, and I thought you could help me, since you're fluent. It's just the irregular verbs, I..."

Blaine's voice seemed to fade out, movie-style, as Kurt, leaning against the lockers next to Blaine's one, noticed Finn walking side-by-side with Quinn down the corridor. Though he usually felt that Finn's fashion sense was terrible (why did his girlfriend not help him out more with that? Surely she wanted a boyfriend who looked good?), he had to admit that the black t-shirt that Finn was wearing today made him look good. Like, really good. His mouth was slightly open as he stared after the football player. Okay, so maybe he had a small crush on Finn. Or a rather large crush. Or-

"Uh, Kurt?" Blaine frowned slightly at him, his gaze following Kurt's to look down the hall at Finn, and he glanced back to Kurt, the frown still creasing his eyebrows. "Are you... alright?"

Kurt dragged his eyes away from Finn, standing up straight, and attempted a smile at Blaine. "No, uh, yes, I'm fine. So, irregular verbs?" He asked, hastily changing the subject.

"Yeah. It's- I'll talk to you about it later, yeah? I have to... go." He waved a hand vaguely before darting off, leaving Kurt to stand, staring down the hall after a boy for the second time in so many minutes, his stomach twisting in knots.

Had Blaine just guessed his secret?

To most people, it seemed to be pretty obvious that he was gay. The footballers had definitely guessed, and he was pretty sure that most of the Glee club members knew, just judging by the way they acted around him. Blaine and Mercedes were the only exceptions to this, or if they weren't, they hadn't said anything to him. Not that anyone had really said anything to him, apart from a few taunts from his bullies. Was it just so obvious that no-one felt the need to talk about it?

His thoughts were interrupted by a girl wanting to get into her locker, and he moved off to find Mercedes, since his next lesson wasn't for another ten minutes. Standing around worrying about who knew about his sexuality for ten minutes would not help his face stay youthful and worry-line-free.

* * *

Blaine stared into the bathroom mirror, mind in turmoil.

What was _that_? When he'd first met Kurt, he had to admit, it had crossed his mind to wonder if the beautiful boy was gay. But he'd quickly pushed it out of his mind, and since Kurt had never hinted at it, he'd decided that Kurt was simply very feminine, or what people often described as 'camp'. Which some straight guys were, and that was perfectly fine.

But now... was he gay? Or had he been staring after Quinn? Or was Blaine just imagining things? Sometimes he did read too much into situations, he'd learnt that at Westerville, but he could also be incredibly oblivious...

Well, it wasn't as if he could _ask _Kurt – he shuddered slightly at the thought. No, the best option here was to let Kurt tell him if and when he was comfortable. He wasn't going to force Kurt out of the closet.

And maybe one day he'd tell Kurt that he was gay. It occurred to him that coming out to Kurt might help him admit to his sexuality in return, if he was indeed gay, but it also might have the opposite effect. And all of this was purely hypothetical, because Kurt might not be – and probably wasn't – gay, anyway.

But first he had to apologise to Kurt, since he'd probably worried him, _again_. He really needed to stop doing this. It was becoming something of a habit.

* * *

Kurt walked quietly next to Blaine, who, having apologised for having run off earlier ("I had to pee, I'm sorry-" "Yet again, Blaine, TMI..."), was walking in silence and occasionally throwing glances at Kurt, looking as if he wanted to say something that he wasn't quite brave enough to voice. Kurt wasn't sure he wanted to ask. It was, of course, possible that Blaine was telling the truth about having needed the bathroom earlier. Kurt was sticking to that belief for now. It was easier than stressing out about an issue that might never be solved.

Reaching Mercedes, who was leaning against the locker next to his and gazing down the hall, he opened his locker and glanced at her as she spoke. Blaine hovered next to him, glancing down the corridor and wrinkling his nose at Puck and Santana's public display of affection, with what Kurt could swear was a murmur of "Gross".

"Have you ever kissed anybody?" Mercedes asked, still gazing down the hall, and Kurt saw Blaine turning sharply to look at him, as if interested in the answer.

If that wasn't a hint that Blaine had guessed, he didn't know what was. "Yes. If by 'someone' you mean the tender crook of my elbow." Applying hairspray sparingly, since his hair was pretty much perfect already, he looked back at her. "No, I haven't. But I want to." He let out a sigh. Considering that people weren't exactly lining up, he probably wasn't going to get that wish for a while, especially as he wasn't interested in any girls who would be lining up. He glanced at Blaine, who looked a little uncomfortable. "What about you, Blaine?"

"Uh, no." Blaine shrugged; maybe it wasn't a big deal for him.

Kurt shut his locker and turned to look at Mercedes. Following her line of sight and noticing Puck and Santana, he realised where this was going. "Okay. Stop it right there, Mercedes. We are in Glee Club. That means we are at the bottom of the social heap. Special Ed kids will get more play than we will. The only thing that gets me by is my knowledge that we are superior to all of them."

Blaine smiled. "I agree. And, I mean, we're 16, so... we've got plenty of time for our first kisses, right? I'd love to stay and chat, but unfortunately, I have to get to Geography before Ms Skinner skins me alive – pun not intended. I'll see you later, guys." He waved and hurried away.

Kurt stared after him for a moment, trying not to read into his words and get caught up wondering if Blaine was trying to avoid him. Shaking his head slightly, he turned to Mercedes and hooked her arm with his, tugging her away and down the corridor. "What are you wearing on our Operation Dakota Stanley field trip?"

Maybe he was a bit too obvious by being so interested in fashion. If Mercedes didn't know by now, he would be surprised, he mused, as he winked at her before leaving to get to class.

* * *

"Kurt, this car is fly." Mercedes commented as she walked up to him.

Pleased at the compliment, since the car was his baby, he told her "My dad got it for my sweet 16 after I swore to stop wearing form-fitting sweaters that stop at the knee." Knowing they were all side-eyeing him, since he was wearing the aforementioned sweaters, he explained, "What he doesn't know doesn't hurt him," which was also a silent threat to cause them pain if they told Burt.

Chatting about Vocal Adrenaline and their chances (or lack thereof) of winning, they walked towards their destination. Rachel interrupted the rest of what Kurt was going to say about Liza Manelli by racing forward and screaming with excitement on spotting one of their singers. Heaven only knew what would happen if she met an _actual _star. Apparently you could be star-struck even when someone was throwing up. Kurt scrunched up his face in disgust and noticed Mercedes shuddering. God, he was glad that Mercedes had never seemed inclined to be that concerned about her weight. She looked fabulous anyway, and throwing up was so bad for your teeth and complexion, it didn't bear thinking about.

Though the girl's comment about Stanley worried him, Rachel, Quinn, Santana and Brittany didn't seem at all fazed, and so they headed in to watch Vocal Adrenaline perform.

As they'd seen before, when they'd been to see them perform Rehab, the group was _amazing_. They were all brilliant singers and could beat the New Directions at dancing any day. But Dakota Stanley didn't seem impressed. And if he wasn't impressed by Vocal Adrenaline, what the hell would he say if he saw them performing?

This thought didn't seem to have occurred to his fellow Glee clubbers, and he supposed that the overall benefit of getting better at dancing outweighed the cost of being yelled at for how terrible they were.

* * *

"So, Stanley wants $8,000 per number." Were the words Kurt greeted Blaine with on the phone that evening, while sitting on his bed in his pajamas, half-watching RENT on mute.

"Wow. That's... that's a lot. What are you guys going to do?" Blaine asked, sounding simultaneously amused and horrified.

"Sell our houses, by the looks of it." Kurt sighed. "Actually, the Cheerios suggested we do a car wash as a fundraiser, and Sue got the other Cheerios to help out, too. So that's happening on Saturday." He still couldn't figure out why the girls were being so helpful. Maybe they really did enjoy singing. It was possible, he supposed. And Sue must be doing it because she really, really liked the Cheerios who were on the Glee club? Maybe she was just trying to get on their good side. "So that should be fun. I'm taking my baby, it needs a clean."

"Maybe I'll come help out." Blaine offered, sounding genuine. "I've never been to a fundraiser before."

"Thanks. It'll probably be quite boring, though." Kurt smiled slightly, touched by the offer. "Hey, all we ever seem to talk about is Glee club." He commented, feeling a little guilty. "How are you doing?"

He could hear the smile in Blaine's voice. "I'm fine, thanks. I managed to get a lot of homework done this afternoon while you were gallivanting off having fun without me-" Kurt snorted, not at all fazed by Blaine's joking attempts to guilt-trip him "- so I've managed to relax and re-watch half of the first season of _Castle_."

"I've heard of that. Is it any good?" Kurt asked, interested to know about Blaine's tastes. He knew they shared an interest in musicals, and in fashion. It was nice to find a guy who could appreciate the wonder of _Vogue._

"It's amazing! It's a crime drama, and I really want Kate and Castle to get together, but since he's – wait, you probably don't need to hear about that. You should watch it, though. You'd like it."

"Maybe I will. I'm currently watching RENT, though, so maybe once I've finished that."

"Haven't you seen that movie about 5,000 times? Good! Then we can watch it together and talk about how awesome Kate is." Blaine sounded excited at this prospect, which made Kurt smile. "Oh! I just realised, I can't come help out on Saturday. I'm busy over the weekend. It's a family thing. I'm sorry." Blaine apologised, sounding truly sorry.

"I've told you a million times, Blaine, don't exaggerate." Kurt rolled his eyes, and couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed. At least he'd still have Mercedes, though. "Don't be sorry, you can't help it. Have fun, though."

"Thank you. I'll try. My cousins are absolute horrors, so that part should be exciting. Oh, I'd better go now, I haven't actually packed my bag for school tomorrow. Or had any dinner, come to think of it." Blaine added, sounding surprised by the thought. Kurt was surprised, too. Blaine wasn't usually scatty-brained. He was put-together and knew exactly what he was doing. But he supposed everyone fell apart sometimes.

"Go!" He ordered, unwilling to let his friend go but not wanting him to starve. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you then. G'night, Kurt."

"Goodnight, Blaine."

* * *

The car washing fundraiser was a disaster. Well, it was a success financially, but a disaster personally. Kurt was pretty sure that after today, he was going to have no friends left. Or at least, he didn't deserve to have any.

He'd managed to upset Mercedes by making her think that they were dating, and the worst part was that he was beginning to see how she could think that. He'd led her on, completely by accident, not realising that she was interpreting his offers to hang out as friends in a totally romantic way. The compliments, the way he tucked her arm in his... it could all be read so easily as a gesture of him wanting more than friendship.

And then he'd told her that he was in love with Rachel. On the list of stupid moves he could've made after letting her down in a not-so-gentle way, telling her that he was in love with some she didn't particularly like was probably first. He was pretty sure that she was going to hate him forever. Apologising was definitely the first thing on his agenda for Monday. Well, after she'd apologised, because she _had _busted the window of his car. Until then, he'd have a pity party, and watch _When Harry Met Sally_ yet again. It'd give her some time to calm down, anyway.

* * *

He didn't get a chance to apologise before Glee club, since Mercedes seemed to be avoiding him. By the time he got to Glee, he was nervous and snappy.

Dakota Stanley did not help to improve his mood. "You can't kick people out of Glee club because you don't like the way they look!" Kurt protested, after the choreographer cut both Artie and Mercedes for ridiculous reasons in the space of about three seconds. He and Mercedes may have been arguing, but he was still going to stand up for her.

He was ready to spit flames by the time Stanley finished insulting him. And this advice was coming from someone whose hair looked like it had been cut by his mother? The man seriously needed to rethink his choices.

Finn had the right idea, which was something he didn't expect but didn't mind seeing, at all. He followed Artie, Tina and Mercedes towards the door, fighting the urge to tell Dakota Stanley that he was a terrible human being who shouldn't be allowed near children.

When Rachel spoke, he was half-expecting her to tell Stanley that it was fine and that they'd be better off without them, but her words caused him to smile. She was right. Barbra was an inspiration to both of them. And they other Glee clubbers' examples – minus Finn's – were also hugely inspirational.

She was right. And the thing about being different... well, he was different. They all were. And maybe... maybe he needed to tell Mercedes exactly how different he was.

* * *

The next day was spent in an agony of indecision. He was pretty certain that Blaine realised that something was up, but he managed to distract him by explaining French irregular verbs.

At the end of the day, he felt more certain about his choice. Mercedes was his friend, and after Saturday, he had to tell her the truth.

"Hey, Kurt."

Kurt glanced at Mercedes before looking back into his locker and pretending to fiddle with his clothes. He may have already forgiven her, but he was too proud to show that he'd forgiven her without hearing an apology first.

As she apologised, and he brushed it off, it hit him that this was his chance to tell her. He'd been friends with her for over a year, and joining Glee club had only made them closer.

So as she turned to walk away, he gathered his courage and told himself sternly that she deserved to know.

"... Mercedes." His voice trembled a little, and he was sure she noticed. As she turned, he steeled himself. "I lied to you." She frowned slightly, and he ploughed on, determined to get this out. "I-I don't like Rachel." He really hoped that didn't sound like he was setting it up to tell her that he did like her, after all. Pausing as someone walked past, he glanced at them before looking back at Mercedes, stepping towards her a little. "... I'm gay."

The look on her face panicked him for a moment, but the question "Why didn't you just tell me?" was probably the best sentence he'd ever heard her say.

So he told her. Her words were probably meant to be comforting, but they only served to remind him that he was just a total coward for not telling anyone.

And now he was crying, and as they finished talking and he walked off, he took a breath to recompose himself.

Some part of him knew that she was right. Eventually, he would have to tell everyone. But right now, he was pretty glad he'd told her. It was a start, at least.

**A/N: I hoped you liked it! Also, I'd like to add that Kurt's current views on coming out are not views that I share. People should come out when they feel comfortable, and not a second sooner. No-one should be forced out, and no-one should feel like they're a coward for not coming out.**

**A/N 2: Um, wow, so something went wrong with the '-' I usually use instead of line breaks (hence the seemingly random time switches and POV switches), so I have entered line breaks instead. It should be fixed now! It's happened to all the chapters so I'll have to go change them, too, so I'm sorry for any amount of emails you may receive.  
**


	4. Chapter 4: Taking Chances

**A/N: There won't be a chapter next week, owing to me being away on holiday and internet-less. It'll be up on the following Thursday. I hope you like this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Glee, there would be 5 or 6 songs in every episode, rather than it drastically switching between 1 and 9.**

**Chapter Four: Taking Chances.**

"... And so now I have to get onto the football team or he's going to know I lied. Well, _Brittany _lied." Kurt was hissing at Mercedes as he explained what had happened the day before, clasping the strap of his bag tightly and glancing around every few seconds to check that no-one was in hearing distance of them.

Mercedes winced in sympathy, and he was glad he'd told her the truth. It was nice to have someone he could be honest with.

"I'm sorry, boo. I think Britney is in dire need of a filter. Or a brain."

He half-smiled, before sighing. "This is a mess."

"So, you need to get onto the football team."

"How am I going to do that?" He challenged. "Walk up to a bunch of guys who frequently toss me in a Dumpster and ask to join them?"

Mercedes looked thoughtful, before inspiration seemed to strike and she glanced down the corridor to where Finn was talking to Quinn, and then looked back at Kurt.

They met each other's gazes with knowing smirks.

And the best part of this idea was that it gave him a legitimate excuse to talk to Finn.

* * *

If Kurt had to put up with Rachel's attitude for one second longer, he was going to slap some sense into her, he decided, watching her storm out of Glee club yet again. Tina deserved the solo, jealous as he may be, and he had to admit that her voice would work well with this song. He smiled at her encouragingly, figuring she'd need it. With a personality like Rachel against you, moral support was needed.

As Schuester dismissed them, seeming optimistic about this song – although no-one else was – Kurt nodded to Mercedes, and called after Finn, pleased to see that his crush responded.

It was bemusing how Finn's mind flicked to prom, which was nearly two years away, as soon as someone let him know they wanted to ask him something. Maybe Quinn was already on his back about it. Actually, there was no maybe about it. Quinn Fabray always worked hard to get what she wanted.

"-know how important dances are to teen gays."

The enticing _please-give-me-what-I-want_ smile slipped from his face. "I'm not gay." His heart raced faster as he denied it, and he shook his head a little. "I just- I needed a favour."

Finn tilted his head a little and frowned with confusion. Kurt noted that it made him look a little like a lost sheep, but pushed the thought away. "I need to get onto the football team. As kicker."

To say that Finn looked shocked would be an understatement. "You want to try out for the football team." He repeated. To Kurt's surprise, his expression turned thoughtful. "Y'know, that's not a bad idea. Look- meet me on the field in fifteen, and we'll practise." He smiled at Kurt, then left, presumably to change into his football clothes. The boy was obviously enthusiastic about his football.

Kurt stared after him for a moment, before fighting the urge to punch the air in victory. Instead, he called Mercedes.

"Plan get-Kurt-Hummel-onto-the-football-team is officially a go."

* * *

"You look happy," Blaine commented the next morning, as they headed to History together.

Kurt gave a non-committal shrug, while inwardly bouncing up and down with joy. "Yeah, well, I decided to try out for the football team."

Blaine's eyebrows went up in shock. "The football team?" He repeated. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, I'm totally behind you and everything, it's just... the football team, Kurt?"

"I kind of told my dad that I was already on it. Well, Brittany did." Kurt explained.

"I thought Brittany was convinced that lying killed unicorns and therefore you should never lie?"

Both of them glanced down the hallway to where the Cheerio in question was standing, chatting to Quinn, who was looking exasperated.

Kurt shrugged, turning back to Blaine. "Who knows what goes through that girl's head? But anyway, I asked Finn to help me with getting on to the team and he agreed. He said he'd arrange for me to be able to try out on Friday."

"Two days? Are you sure that's enough time?" Blaine queried, stepping out of the way of a student who was barrelling down the corridor, probably late for their lesson.

"Finn says I'm pretty good" – and how he'd blushed when Finn had said that – "and the first game is in a couple weeks, so it really has to be now."

"Oh. Well, good luck." Blaine offered him a smile. "I'll come and watch, if you like. For moral support."

"I'd really appreciate that. Thanks, Blaine." Kurt smiled at him as they reached their classroom, glad that they sat next to each other in this lesson and so could continue their conversation. "Doesn't that mean you'll have to arrange alternative transport home?"

Blaine paused in the act of getting his stationery out of his bag. "Uh, well, my mom gives me a lift, so I just have to ask her to pick me up half an hour later." He glanced at Kurt curiously before resuming his actions.

Kurt watched him rooting around for the homework and nodded slightly. Was this a good time to ask about Blaine's family? "So, uh, what's your mom like?" He asked casually, looking quickly at the front of the classroom to check that the teacher hadn't yet arrived – she was usually late, so he wasn't surprised that she wasn't yet there – before focussing his attention back on Blaine.

Who was giving him a strange look, which was hardly surprising. He'd never had the courage to ask about Blaine's personal life before. "Uh, she's cool, I guess. Kinda quiet, sweet, can be pretty oblivious, but she's caring."

Kurt snorted, and then rolled his eyes at Blaine's frown. "You definitely take after her."

He thought he heard Blaine mutter "good" under his breath, but in the next second, Blaine asked "So, what about your dad? What's he like?" and he was sufficiently distracted that he didn't think to wonder why Blaine was glad about that.

"He's your average dad, I guess. He owns a garage- Hummel's Tires and Lube."

Blaine snorted a little, and Kurt raised an eyebrow at him, curious, which elicited a blush. "Uh, never mind, sorry." He paused, staring down at his desk for a moment. "So... your mom, is she-?"

"Dead. Yes." The way he said it sounded unfeeling, but that was the way he'd learnt to deal with it, and he winced slightly, knowing he came off as uncaring when he threw up his walls like that.

Blaine seemed to understand, though, and he offered a sympathetic smile before turning to the front as their teacher walked in.

Kurt smiled quietly down at his desk, glad he had a friend like Blaine.

* * *

Kurt Hummel was nervous, which was something that didn't happen that often. Finn didn't seem nervous- well, until Kurt turned to go and get his music. And then he freaked.

"If you do it your way, they're gonna kill you!"

That was a slight exaggeration, Kurt felt, as he ignored Finn's advice, retorted sharply, and then fetched his music. He reached Ken as the man finished screaming at his team, and ignored the snickers from the footballers as he announced that he was auditioning.

As he danced his way up to the ball, he was in the zone, unaware of the football team, and concentrated on kicking it as if it was part of his routine, part of the choreography.

He watched the ball fly through the posts, satisfied with himself as he heard some of the members of the football team dropping their helmets, and he couldn't help smiling as he heard clapping and realised that it was Blaine. He smirked, giving the football guys a royal wave as the coach announced that he was their new kicker. None of them looked too pleased.

As he walked away from the tryout, he waved to Blaine, jogging over to him.

"That was awesome, Kurt! You got on, right?" Blaine enthused, smiling at him.

"Yes. Admittedly, I'm still not sure of most of the rules of football, but I know that I kick the ball when they tell me to." He shrugged, giving him a smile. "And thank you for turning up to watch."

"I could teach you, if you wanted. I actually like football." Blaine admitted. "And hey, what are friends for?"

"Don't worry, it's not something I need to know." Kurt blinked at him, slightly surprised by this. Blaine liked disco and movies and art, not football. Huh, you learnt something new every day. "Well, you'd better be coming to the match, then." He told him, as they both set off for the car park. Since Blaine was getting a lift home, it seemed natural that he should walk him to his car. He'd be able to meet Blaine's mom, for a short moment at least.

"Of course I am. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't turn up?" Blaine asked, shooting him a smile.

"I guess." He wasn't even sure if Mercedes was coming to the match, and she'd been his friend for a lot longer than Blaine had.

They reached the car park, and Blaine waved to a blue Mini, quickening his step slightly. Kurt increased his speed to keep up with him, looking curiously at the woman in the driver's seat.

She was a small Filipino woman, who smiled widely on seeing the two boys, learning across to open the passenger door. "So, who's your friend, Blaine?" She asked, smiling up at the two boys.

"Uh, mom, this is Kurt." Blaine gestured to Kurt, a slightly uneasy expression on his face which his mom didn't seem to notice.

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs Anderson." Kurt told her formally.

"It's nice to meet you too, Kurt." She beamed at him, before glancing at her watch. "Oh, Blaine, honey, we need to get going."

Blaine turned to Kurt. "I'll see you on Monday. Remember to practise for the big game!" He waved as he climbed into his car, and continued waving until he was out of sight.

Kurt waved back and watched him go with a fond smile.

* * *

It was 20 minutes before Blaine's mom started a conversation. "So, Kurt seems like a nice kid." She offered, glancing at him.

He swallowed and nodded. "He is, mom."

"Does he... know?" She asked delicately, eyes fixed on the road ahead.

He gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to scream his answer at her. "No, I haven't told him that I'm gay yet."

They drove on in silence for a few minutes before she spoke again. "You know I support you, Blaine. It's just that your father and I don't want any trouble like there was at Westerville. I know you say Kurt's a nice boy, but... well, that's what you said about Brad, dear."

Resolve softened, he nodded. "I know, mom. But I can make my own decisions now, okay? I'm a big boy now."

"A big boy who still likes Katy Perry?" She teased, and he almost sighed with relief at the fact that she'd stopped asking about his school life. He didn't need her knowing that he'd made no friends apart from Kurt. Even if Kurt's friends were nice to him, it didn't mean they liked him. And he was so far off the radar of the popular kids that they didn't even bully him, which was both a blessing and a curse. He hated seeing Kurt bullied every day when he could do nothing.

"Blaine?" His mom probed gently, and he started slightly.

"Sorry, what did you say? Oh, right, Katy Perry." He switched on the car radio, changing it to play the CD, and closed his eyes as he began singing along to I Kissed a Girl.

Maybe he should admit to Kurt that he was good at singing. It was just another thing to add to the growing list of confessions he'd have to make.

* * *

It was time for the football match, and Kurt had never been more freaked out in his life.

"Are you nervous?" Blaine asked, and Kurt shot him a _look_ in response. "You're going to be fine, Kurt. Don't sweat it."

Easier said than done, Kurt thought dismally.

"Good luck." Blaine clapped him on the shoulder. "Go get 'em."

He'd changed in the toilets earlier, needing privacy and knowing the guys weren't too thrilled at the idea of him being in the room with them while they were changing.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped out onto the field, staring at the crowd. That was an awful lot of people that he might be disappointing.

Walking quickly, he headed over to the bench to watch the game and wait for his cue. Spotting his dad, he grinned and waved, jumping up and down and feeling a massive sense of relief. He'd only joined because of his father, and he couldn't be more relieved that it hadn't all been for nought.

Though he was still unsure of the more complicated rules, he understood the basic principle of the game, and even if he was confused, he could still stare at Finn Hudson for the majority of the game without anyone being freaked out by it. As the quarterback, Finn was being stared at by a lot of people.

It was toward the end of the match that Kurt began to feel a slow sense of creeping disappointment. There were only a few minutes left, and he hadn't done anything yet, and the guys had obviously decided not to do the dance.

As the timer ticked down the final ten seconds, he breathed a shaky sigh and chanced a look at his father, who seemed disenchanted. Great. Now he was going to have to face his dad's disappointment.

Hearing a shout, he turned towards the game and found Finn calling a time-out. Sitting up a little straighter, he glanced at the time. Two seconds to go? What was Finn doing?

After what looked like a fierce conference between the players, Finn nodded to the sound guys, and Kurt's smile nearly split his face as he watched the boys begin the dance to Single Ladies. He was proud, not of them, but of himself.

Over the last couple weeks, he'd learnt some important things about himself. He'd learnt that he could be whoever he wanted to be, and that if he tried hard enough, he could get several very masculine guys to dance to a female-empowerment song in the middle of a football game. Most importantly, he'd learnt that he needed to true to himself.

And the only way he could do that was to come out.

It wasn't that he felt like he was being forced out; he was ready, now. Ready to tell his father that he was gay and accept the consequences, whatever they may be.

Noticing his cue, he stood up, slowly walking out onto the field. The coach gave him what was probably meant to be an encouraging speech, but instead made him feel a little bit like he was about to enter into battle. He quipped about needing to pee, a joke Ken didn't appreciate, and then stepped out into position, waiting for the music.

Glancing into the crowd, he saw Burt, but his eyes kept searching until he saw Blaine, who stood a little along from Tina and Mercedes. Their eyes met and Blaine smiled at him.

The music started and he danced the quickest routine to Single Ladies he'd ever done, and kicked the ball.

It took him a few seconds to register what had happened, but when it hit home, he grinned. He'd won the game. And then he found himself hoisted onto the shoulders of the guys who hated him most, but for now, he really didn't care, and he was pretty sure they didn't, either. He waved to his dad brightly, grinning wildly.

He'd won the game. And it felt like a small victory, not just for the team, but for him.

And with that, he felt like he could do anything.

* * *

Kurt stared into the mirror, hearing his father coming down the stairs, and steeling himself for the moment that he knew was coming.

Hearing his dad say that he was proud of him would have made him smile, had he not been bracing for what he needed to say next. The speech was something he'd planned on the way home. It described how he was feeling, and the soul-revealing epiphany he'd had the other night, and he was glad that he managed to get it out without stumbling over his words or bursting into tears.

Before he started playing football, he'd thought it would be just another way of hiding his gayness from his dad. Instead, it had given him the strength to come out.

"I know." Was all that his dad said at first in answer to his speech, and it was all at once the best news he'd ever heard and kind of an anti-climax, but he took it.

"Really?"

"I've known ever since you were 3. All you wanted for your birthday was a pair of sensible heels." Burt explained.

That sounded like him, and he laughed a little.

"I guess I'm not exactly in love with the idea" – his pulse quickened a little, because that was not what he wanted to hear – "but if that's who you are, there's nothing I can do about it. And I love you just as much. Okay?"

He'd never appreciated and loved his dad as much as he did in that moment. The pat on the shoulder didn't seem like enough, so he threw himself forward to hug Burt. The Hummel men weren't very good at expressing emotion, so moments like this were rare, but he always knew that his dad loved him and had his back. Now, he had reassurance that his father truly loved him no matter what.

"Thanks for telling me, Kurt."

Kurt sat back down, feeling like the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders.

"You're sure, right?" Burt asked, pausing at the foot of the stairs.

"Yeah, dad, I'm sure." Kurt responded, unable to stop himself having a moment of panic wondering if his father was going to suddenly change his mind.

"Just checking."

Burt left, and he listened to his father walking upstairs.

So, out of the three most important people in his life, that was two down.

Just one to go.

* * *

"Hey, Blaine." Kurt hovered next to his locker, and Blaine looked up with a smile.

"Oh, hey, Kurt!" Blaine greeted him. "I didn't see you after the match, so- congratulations."

"Thanks." Kurt shifted, looking uncomfortable. "I need to tell you something, okay? And- you might hate me for it, but please don't tell anyone."

"I won't." Blaine promised, frowning a little at him. "And I could never hate you, you know that."

Kurt glanced around and leant in slightly. "Blaine... I know I should've told you sooner, and I'm sorry, but I wasn't ready and- and now I am, and it's something about me that isn't going to change, and now I'm rambling." He took a deep breath. "I-I'm gay."

"Oh." Was all Blaine could think to say.

A slightly panicked expression appeared on Kurt's face. "Oh?"

"No, that's not- no. Kurt, you're my best friend, and you being gay doesn't change anything." He studied Kurt for a moment, waiting for the smile, before hugging him on impulse, squeezing him tightly for a second before letting him go. "I'll never hate you, ever, okay? I promise."

Kurt smiled at him, a real, genuine smile, one he didn't see very often from Kurt. "Thank you, Blaine."

"You're welcome." A thought occurred to him. "Did you tell Mercedes? Is that why she forgave you for the carwash fiasco?"

Kurt winced slightly. "Let's not speak of that."

As Blaine readily changed the topic, chatting on about silly topics, he thought about how he now knew that he'd have at least one friend if he came out. But now seemed like the wrong time, and in truth, after Westerville, he wasn't ready.

With Kurt by his side, though, he didn't think it'd take too long until he was ready.

**A/N: I really love Sue's Corner at the end of Preggers. I don't know, it's actually really inspirational. **


	5. Chapter 5: Maybe This Time

**A/N: Hello, I know this is two days late, and I'm really, really sorry! My personal life got in the way by throwing up massive problems, which really did prevent me from writing. I hope this makes up for it by being the longest chapter yet... ;)**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned Glee; I'd have the money to go to University a year earlier!**

**Chapter Five: Maybe This Time**

"Hey, Kurt." Blaine greeted him the next day, smiling brightly.

He really was smiling brightly, actually. It was like a spotlight had been turned on behind his face, and it was a little disconcerting at first, but then Kurt thought about it for a moment and it made sense. He was being overly friendly to show that he really didn't mind that Kurt was gay. This idea didn't really annoy him – it was actually nice to know that Blaine cared enough about Kurt's feelings to do something like that. It wasn't really surprising, though. Blaine was a caring person. "Hey, Blaine." He smiled. "Are you okay? You look a little tired."

"Oh, right, yeah, I was watching _Friends _last night and totally lost track of time." Blaine grinned a little sheepishly. "It's just so addictive. Oh, hey, Mercedes," he added, nodding to her as she walked over.

"Hi, Blaine." She greeted him, and Kurt was glad to see that they were getting along. "Hey, boo." She added to Kurt, before gesturing after their English teacher, who'd just walked past. "He just told me what book we're doing this semester. Wuthering Heights. Talk about rubbing it in our faces."

Kurt gave her a sympathetic look.

"Rubbing what in our faces?" Blaine asked, with a slight frown of confusion on his face.

"Our lack of romance?" She explained, in a 'well, duh?' tone of voice. "The heroine has two guys falling at her feet." She shook her head slightly.

Blaine shrugged a little. "Well, considering how it turns out for all of them, I think you should be relieved, not jealous."

"Hey, no spoilers, I haven't read it yet!" She retorted.

For a moment, Blaine looked guilty, but the look was quickly wiped from his face by her reassuringly teasing smile, and he rolled his eyes at her.

"At least we're not doing Romeo and Juliet." Kurt pointed out, glancing at a clock to see how long they had until first period.

Blaine shuddered a little. "I don't like Romeo and Juliet."

"Really? I thought you loved romance." Kurt raised an eyebrow at him questioningly, curious. In fact, he _knew_ Blaine loved romance. One day, he was going to make the perfect boyfriend for some very lucky girl.

"I do, but the ending is terrible. He could have at least checked her breathing before killing himself." Blaine pointed out, this logic being something that Kurt felt shouldn't be applied to Shakespeare. After all, the man wrote about faeries.

Kurt raised an eyebrow at his best friend. "He was distraught, and you expect him to have the sense to check her breathing to see if she was alive?"

"I know, I know. And they did have a beautiful romance. Love at first sight, the star-crossed lovers..." Blaine placed a hand – a little melodramatically – over his heart, and sighed.

Mercedes groaned. "Oh, hell no, none of this talk about love, or I'm outta here." She threatened mildly.

The bell went, with perfect timing, and Kurt shrugged a little. "Looks like you're outta here anyway." He winked, before striding off, tossing a "See you two later!" over his shoulder.

Blaine fought the urge to watch him go, and turned to smile at Mercedes, a little uncertainly. He wasn't sure how much she liked him, considering he'd practically jumped in and – from her point of view, he suspected – stolen her best friend. But she was smiling back at him, and he relaxed a little.

"So, speaking of love. Has anyone in the school caught your eye yet?" She asked casually, with a smile.

He blinked, caught out completely by the question. "Uh, no, not-not really, so far- you know, I have to get to class..." Cursing his inability to act suave and normal, he backed slowly away, waving, before turning and hurrying off to class.

Why had she had to ask him about that? Hadn't she just said she wanted to avoid the topic of romance? He stopped short as a horrifying thought occurred to him. What if she liked him? He shook his head a little, trying to not think about the repercussions of that possibility. She'd bust the windows of Kurt's car. God only knew what she'd do to him. He shuddered a little, pushed the thought away, and concentrated on getting to Geography.

* * *

It had become routine for Kurt to call Blaine up after school to talk to him, and today was no change from this routine.

"Hey, Kurt!" Blaine's voice came down the phone, a smile in his voice.

Kurt relaxed back into his pillows and smiled slightly."Hey, you."

"How was Glee club?" There was genuine interest in his voice. Kurt marvelled that Blaine still cared about Glee club, the amount of time that Kurt spent talking about it, but it always warmed him to know that his friend was willing to listen.

Kurt sighed. "Disastrous. Now Rachel's left, Quinn's our lead singer, but she keeps rushing off to the bathroom to hurl- she shouldn't be in school, she's obviously ill. Or, actually, I'm beginning to suspect she's lactose intolerant- Finn's always making excuses for her by referencing food she's eaten." Blaine tutted in response. "Mr Schue thinks we'll be fine. But as much as I hate to admit it, Rachel is our strongest singer and we need her back. The thing is, Finn's the only one who had can get her back. But he won't, because he's dating Quinn." It was a mess, he'd be the first to admit that. The Glee club wasn't exactly doing well in terms of 'domestic' normality.

"It sounds to me like someone needs to tell Finn that you're not going to win without her, really give him an incentive to talk to her." Blaine commented.

"First, you'd need to give Finn an incentive to win. He cares about Glee club enough to go, but he's not that invested in the club, much as he claims to be. He's more interested in football." Kurt shrugged, and exhaled. "I'm sorry, all we seem to talk about is Glee club."

Blaine laughed. "I don't mind. I like hearing about it."

From someone who claimed to be a bad singer, this seemed somewhat suspect. Why would you be interested in something that you didn't do and were terrible at? It'd be like Kurt being interested in hearing about the hockey club. Kurt tucked the knowledge away to think about later. "Well, okay. What about you, though? What're your interests?"

"Uh... I like... football, and boxing. I can play the piano, too."

"A man of many talents." Despite his teasing, Kurt was impressed. "Why don't you join the football team, then?" He asked, slightly confused.

"Oh, no, I like to watch it, I don't play it. The only sports I play are polo and lacrosse." Blaine explained quickly.

Kurt spluttered. "I'm sorry, what?" He inquired, and could practically feel Blaine's blush.

"Uh, well, I mean, I don't play them much anymore, but I can. Play them. Quite well, actually."

"And boxing. Did your parents just enter you for every sport they could find?" Kurt asked, faintly astonished.

"Only the high-brow ones. They would never have me playing something as lowly as _football_." Blaine responded, and then choked a little. "Oh, wow, sorry. I- my parents kinda have a lot of money and can act really snobby, so sometimes I imitate them as a joke, and..." He trailed off, due to Kurt's laughter. "Well, I'm glad you're amused, then."

"Sorry, it's just... you're pretty much the nicest person I know, and your parents are snobby?" Kurt asked incredulously, once he'd stopped laughing.

"Well, mainly Dad, and he really only does it in front of other rich snobs. I mean, we're not that rich, compared to them, but he likes to act like we are, because he doesn't like feeling like he's nto as good as other people." Blaine paused. "I'm rambling, I'll stop."

Kurt got it. Blaine obviously wasn't proud of the way his father acted, and there was probably some shame there too – after all, he knew that Burt worked in a garage, and there was a high chance that he felt bad about his family's money.

"It's fine." There was an awkward pause, before he changed the subject, asking what football team Blaine supported, and finding out with pleasure that he supported the same team as Burt. Of course, that topic didn't last long, but they always found something to talk about.

Blaine was so easy to talk to, Kurt mused.

It was about half an hour later that Blaine took a deep breath, and approached a new subject. "Hey, so, Mercedes asked me earlier if I liked anyone at the school. Do..." Blaine paused, and Kurt knew he was frowning. "Do you think she was asking for me about that for a specific reason, or..." He trailed off.

"You mean, do you think she likes you?" Kurt asked bluntly, never one to dance around the subject when it came to romance.

"I don't know." Blaine sounded frustrated. "I just... well, I mean, has she asked you if there's anyone in the school you like?"

"No, she hasn't. I mean, at first she thought I liked her, and now I think she's still a little heartbroken from that. Either that, or she just presumes there's no-one at school worthy of my interest." Kurt paused a moment, wondering if he should ask the question that was running through his mind. "So, uh, what would you think if she did like you?"

"Oh God. I mean, she's lovely, and I like her, and I know she's your best friend and all, but I don't like-like her." Blaine babbled, before groaning. "Sorry, I talk too much."

"Are we in fourth grade?" Kurt rolled his eyes, even though Blaine couldn't see him, before softening his tone a little. "Look, I don't mind if you don't like her, and even if she does like you, I'm sure she'll get over it." His tone softened completely. "And Blaine, you never have to worry about 'talking too much' to me, okay?"

"Thanks, Kurt. And I guess I'll have to wait and see, then." Blaine mused. "So... is there anyone worthy of your interest?" He asked.

Kurt hesitated. "Do you honestly want to know, or are you just being polite?" He didn't want to freak Blaine out, after all.

"I honestly want to know, Kurt." Blaine reassured him.

A dreamy sigh left Kurt's lips. "You're not to tell anyone, okay?"

"Of course not!" Blaine promised.

"Well... if I'm honest, I've had a crush on Finn for a while." Kurt admitted, quietly, after a moment.

There was a minute of silence, and then – "Wait, Finn Hudson?" Came the shocked voice, a lot louder than he was used to hearing Blaine talk.

"You... don't seem pleased." Kurt's insides twisted with nerves. Had he made a mistake telling Blaine?

"No, no, not displeased... just... surprised, I guess. He doesn't seem like your type." Blaine muttered something, and then coughed. "Honestly, I'm fine with it; you just caught me by surprise. Good for you, really."

Kurt nodded, convinced, then remembered Blaine couldn't see him. "Good. I mean, I know I have practically no chance with him, but a boy can dream, right?"

"Yeah, a boy can certainly dream." There was a hint of wistfulness in Blaine's voice. "Look, I have to go to bed, okay? Goodnight, Kurt."

"'night, Blaine."

"Sweet dreams."

Kurt smiled as the call ended, and that night, he did have sweet dreams.

* * *

Blaine left his classroom and trotted along the corridor, looking for Kurt and Mercedes. Spotting them, he picked up his speed, frowning a little as he noticed that they were whispering fiercely. Reaching the pair, he smiled. "Where's the fire?"

Mercedes glanced at Kurt and beckoned Blaine a little closer. He leant in, curious. "The Glee club has had its first gossip-worthy news. Wait for it, Anderson," here she paused for dramatic effect. Blaine was almost at the edge of his seat. Well, he would have been if he was sitting down. "Quinn's pregnant with Finn." She whispered.

Blaine blinked. There'd been a girl in his old school who had gotten pregnant, two years above him. She'd had an abortion, but in the end, she'd had to transfer schools, because of the words people were hissing at her in the hallways. He'd always wanted to tell her how awesome she was for being brave enough to go against the opinions of her parents, who had been firm Catholics, in taking control of her own life. "What's she going to do?" He asked, concerned for the blonde Cheerio. Though he knew Kurt and Mercedes weren't close friends with her, she didn't seem too horrible a person from what he knew of her. Well, there were worst people around, at any rate.

Mercedes shrugged. "I guess she's keeping it, if she's far enough along that she's getting morning sickness and she hasn't got rid of it yet. Most people would have taken the morning after pill already. And she doesn't like abortion."

"She won't be able to hide it long. I heard she's gained a pound already." Kurt informed them both, obviously delighted with the scandal of it all, and Mercedes laughed.

Neither of them seemed particularly anxious for the cheerleader, and Blaine felt sorry for her. From the little he'd seen of Santana and Brittany, they weren't the type to be worried about Quinn, and they were supposed to be her best friends. "I hope her parents are supportive."

Kurt scoffed. "Not likely. They're religious, and anyway, she's their little princess, captain of the Celibacy Club, and head Cheerio. They're not going to be at _all_ pleased."

Mercedes snorted. "She deserves any reaction they throw at her."

"What, even if they forced her to have an abortion or threw her out?" Blaine asked quietly, shocked at their reactions.

This question had the impact he'd hoped it would. Both looked guilty, and Mercedes bit her lip. "Well, I wouldn't want that." She sighed. "I guess I need to stop being so hard on her. No matter how much of a bitch she can be, she doesn't deserve that. And we're supposed to be her friends, or as good as."

Kurt nodded in agreement with her, then eyed Blaine. "Your mission in life is to make us better people, isn't it?"

"... Uh..." He wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Sorry?"

Kurt shook his head at him, but he was smiling. Blaine took that as a good sign.

* * *

Mercedes was eyeing him strangely. So was Blaine, actually. Kurt blinked at them both and then gave them a friendly smile. He should smile at them more. They were his friends, right? You should smile at your friends. Even if they were giving you strange and concerned looks.

He didn't know why they would be concerned. All he'd done was follow April Rhodes' instructions to drink a few sips (or more, depending on how he was feeling that morning) of the Chablis she'd given him every day before school, and it was working wonders. He was much more confident, and able to be himself in front of everyone, including his father and his friends. He was loving it, and their concern confused him.

"Kurt, are you okay?" Mercedes asked him gently, swapping a look with Blaine.

"Of course I'm okay, why wouldn't I be? It's a fantastic day." Kurt nodded, and then stopped nodding, because it was making his head hurt. Pain was bad. People shouldn't put themselves through pain. "It's English. I'm excited. I love English!"

Blaine leant towards him a little. "Hey, Kurt, uh... let's play a game this lesson, okay?"

Kurt nodded. Games were fun. He liked games. He played games with his father sometimes and they were fun.

"It's called 'Who can stay quiet the longest' and it starts from the moment the teacher walks in, yeah?" Blaine said gently.

Kurt nodded eagerly. That sounded fun.

Mercedes gave Blaine an impressed look. Kurt was glad that they were getting along. It was nice to know that they liked each other. Oh, look, the teacher was here! So now he had to be quiet. Quiet was fun.

* * *

Blaine hung back a little after English, watching Kurt disappear before grabbing Mercedes' arm. "Listen, you realise Kurt's drunk, right?" He whispered, as everyone else filed out.

"Well, yeah, Anderson. I'm black, not stupid. And quick thinking with that idea for the game!" She added with a smile, before turning slightly to leave.

"I've dealt with drunk people before, but that's not important," he responded, a little impatient. "Aren't you worried about Kurt?"

"Yeah, I guess..." She looked conflicted, before seeming to resolve herself and turning to him fully. "Look, Blaine, it's Kurt's decision, and if he wants to feel more confident, then who are we to stop him? And April's awesome. I'm sure her advice will work out for him in the end, even if he's having a bit of a rough time now." She bit her lip, before smiling at him and leaving.

Blaine stared after her, and recalled the way Tina and Mercedes had spent an hour with April Rhodes the day before. She must have told them something, given them some advice, that had changed their opinion on her, too. He only hoped it wasn't as damaging to them as the advice that she'd given Kurt.

Speaking of Kurt... Blaine stood staring at the door as everyone left, undecided. Much as he didn't want to tell on Kurt and get him into trouble, he also didn't want to watch his friend hurting himself and affecting his education. In the end, the worry for Kurt won, and he steeled himself for action as he left the classroom.

A few minutes later, he was stood in an empty classroom, having grabbed Schuester by approaching him in the corridor and asking "Hey, Mr Schuester. Could I talk to you for a moment? In private?"

Now, Mr Schuester sat on the edge of his desk and smiled at Blaine. "What can I do for you... Blaine, isn't it?"

"Yes, Blaine. Sir, I'm worried about Kurt. He's been turning up to school drunk the last few days, and it's because of April Rhodes." Blaine told him. This felt like a betrayal of Kurt's trust, but he pushed the feeling aside. This was for Kurt's health. He wasn't going to let Kurt's life be ruined by some stupid advice from an idiotic woman who was still in school way after she should have left.

Mr Schuester sighed and dropped his head, before raising it to look at Blaine with a concerned frown. "I just had Em- Miss Pillsbury telling me the same thing. Apparently, Kurt threw up on her while drunk."

Blaine winced. He could only imagine how the famously-OCD counsellor would take that. "Right. Look, sir, I know it's not my place to tell you how to teach, but... April Rhodes isn't benefitting anyone by being here, least of all herself."

The teacher gave him a considering look. "Maybe you're right, Blaine." He sighed. "Look, I'll talk to her, and to Kurt. Rest assured he won't be drinking anymore, okay?"

Blaine nodded, and headed towards the door.

"Oh, and Blaine?"

He turned back to Mr Schuester.

"Thank you for coming here and telling me. I know it must have taken a lot to come and snitch on your friend." The teacher gave him an approving smile. He smiled back, and left feeling like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

* * *

It was a huge relief to see Kurt back to normal two days later, having missed the next day to recover from throwing up. Blaine winced inwardly as Kurt complained about being grounded because of the drinking, feeling guilty, but reminded himself that this was better than the alternative.

Mr Schuester apparently hadn't taken his advice, since it was April who would be singing lead at the invitationals, and Blaine frowned a little when Kurt explained this, shaking his head slightly. This wasn't going to end well, he could see it already. He just hoped it ended soon, before anyone else got hurt.

* * *

Kurt stared out at the audience as they finished Somebody to Love. Though the whole audience was clapping and cheering, his eyes searched for Blaine, and he smiled as he saw the curly-haired boy who was clapping harder than anyone else.

He wasn't stupid; he knew that Blaine had gone to Mr Schue about his drinking. It didn't anger him, though. Well, he'd been angry at first, but he'd calmed down as he realised that his father was right; what _was_ he thinking? Walking into school under the influence of alcohol? He had plans for his life, plans he wasn't going to let anything or any_one_ ruin.

He caught Blaine's eyes and winked at him. This whole affair had been completely ridiculous, but one thing had come out of it; the vow he'd made to himself that he was going to be as good a friend to Blaine, and to Mercedes, as Blaine was to him.

They deserved it.

**A/N: Sorry once again! See you all next Thursday (for real, this time)**


	6. Chapter 6: Confessions

**A/N: I've decided to change the day I update to Friday, because it just makes more sense with my schedule. Sorry for the lack of forewarning! But I think you're gonna like this chapter, a lot. ;)**

**Warning: There is bullying in this chapter. Yes, I warned for this at the start, but it's quite angsty here.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Glee, I probably wouldn't be up until 1AM at least once a week writing fanfiction...**

**Chapter Six: Confessions.**

"I'm _still_ grounded." Kurt announced dramatically as he spoke to Blaine for the first time that day, leaning against the locker next to Blaine's and shaking his head. "Dad lectured me for an hour last night when I asked why I was still grounded for something that happened 3 weeks ago. It's pointless, really – the whole experience put me off of alcohol forever. He doesn't need to _punish_ me for it."

Blaine closed his locker and smiled wryly at Kurt. "Hello to you, too." He teased, glad to see that Kurt wasn't really annoyed, just whining for the sake of it.

The irritable glare he received would suggest otherwise, but he knew Kurt well enough by now to roll his eyes at him in response to what he knew was just theatrics. "I'm going to be grounded until I move out." Kurt complained.

"Well, it's not as if you have any huge social events coming up." Blaine pointed out gently, before turning to head off down the corridor, managing to walk a few paces before he realised Kurt wasn't following. He turned.

Kurt was still leaning against the locker. "I resent the implication that I don't have a social life."

Incredulous stare. "Fine, I'm sorry, your social life is wondrous and bountiful. Now can we go to the cafeteria?"

Kurt sniffed theatrically, which seemed to be his way of accepting his apology, and then moved to sweep past Blaine imperiously. "Come on!" He called over his shoulder as he passed him.

Blaine hurried to keep up with him. "Your legs are longer than mine!" He protested.

"That's because you're tiny."

"I am not tiny. I'm the average height for a male American."

"You actually _checked_ that, and I'm the one with no social life?"

Blaine nudged Kurt as they entered the cafeteria, and mock-glared at him, before glancing around the room.

Coming into this room was still a little terrifying. Strangely, it seemed as if here, the cafeteria was safe, neutral territory. It hadn't been like that at Westerville.

The two of them headed over to the counter to get food. "Ah, nutritious, healthy food." Kurt muttered in an undertone just loud enough for Blaine to hear, and he stifled laughter as he held out his tray to receive the fries, baked beans and chicken nuggets.

He flinched away a little as a burly jock jostled him, and followed Kurt quickly over to the table which Mercedes, Tina, Artie, and Rachel were already seated at.

"Whaddup, homeboys?" Artie greeted them, and Blaine blinked at him, sitting down slowly. Though Kurt had told him he was welcome here, he still felt like an outsider, especially when they all started talking about Glee.

"Kurt, Finn's been looking tired recently, right? You're with me on this?" Rachel pleaded with the countertenor.

"Much as I hate to agree with you on anything, you're right, Rachel." Kurt let out a long-suffering sigh, picking up a fry with his hand to eat it, the other hand propping up his chin.

"Do you think it's because of the baby?" Tina asked quietly, and all six of them leant in a little.

"What, like he's worrying about it so much he's not sleeping properly?" Mercedes glanced around at the others. "I don't know, you guys; he doesn't seem worried. Maybe he's just got Teenage Boy Syndrome."

"Hey!" Blaine, Kurt, and Artie all protested simultaneously, and Blaine felt a momentary feeling of warmth, stupid as it seemed, a feeling of unity with them.

"Don't worry; you guys haven't caught it yet. When you start being assholes to girls, then you'll know. Except you, Kurt. You've escaped." Mercedes reassured him.

"With the power of the gay?" He asked wryly.

"It is a great power. But with great power comes great responsibility, Kurt Skywalker." Artie said solemnly, and they all laughed.

Blaine picked at his food with his fork, suddenly no longer hungry.

Rachel began talking about Sectionals. Artie, Tina, and Mercedes all groaned loudly and threw fries at her.

Kurt nudged Blaine, and he looked up, startled, before returning Kurt's smile.

He just had to suck it up. If he was gonna be too scared to come out, he'd have to deal with the consequences of that.

* * *

"Rachel has actually forbidden me from talking to you." Mercedes told Kurt seriously the day after Will had given them their assignment for the week.

Kurt rolled his eyes, not surprised at the girl's enthusiasm. "Ugh, she's only one who's taking this competition seriously."

"It's Rachel, what do you expect?" Mercedes shut her locker and turned to face Kurt. "Anyway, we all know the boys are going _down_."

"That's what you think." Kurt scoffed. "Finn and I are on the same team, we're bound to win."

"Go on, what songs are you doing?" Mercedes nudged him.

"I've been sworn to secrecy." Kurt nudged her in return. "They may be too 'cool' to show it, but they really want to win."

"Then I'm afraid they're going to be disappointed." She retorted sassily.

"Oh, like you girls have something better planned?" He asked, derisively.

"Way better. You don't stand a chance."

"Mercedes!" They both rolled their eyes at the call, knowing that it was the very girl they'd just been complaining about. "You're fraternising with the enemy! Sorry, Kurt." She added to him, making shooing motions.

He mouthed a 'see you later' to Mercedes, who gave a long-suffering sigh as Rachel hooked her arm through hers and began whispering fiercely about choreography.

"Meeting after school today, Kurt!" Artie called out as he wheeled past him.

Blaine walked over to Kurt, nodding to Artie as he passed him. "Meeting for what?"

"Our Glee club assignment this week is to perform a mash-up. Boys versus girls. We're meeting to discuss what we're doing." Kurt explained.

"Oh, right. That's cool. Good luck!" Blaine smiled. "What songs are you doing, then?"

"We haven't decided yet, hence the meeting." Kurt told him.

Blaine quirked his lip in an acknowledgement of their disorganisation. "Mash-ups are hard, aren't they? 'cause you have to find two that go together."

Kurt nodded, impressed with his knowledge. "Yeah, you do."

"In our last year of middle school, my friend mashed up What Time Is It from High School Musical and School's Out Forever, and then she insisted on standing at the school entrance singing it at people as they left on the day school broke for summer vacation." Blaine told him, a smile tugging at his lips at the memory.

This was the first time Kurt had heard anything about Blaine's childhood, and he smiled at the idea of a younger Blaine standing next to his friend and looking embarrassed while she sang at people.

"People kept throwing money at her, actually." Blaine added.

"Oh, so she was a good singer, then?" Kurt inquired, intrigued about this girl.

"No, they were throwing money at her to get her to shut up."

His words surprised Kurt into laughing. "Right, well, that's... that must have been a bit of a blow to her ego."

Blaine's smile was both fond and nostalgic. "Oh, she knew she was a terrible singer. She just didn't care."

The way Blaine was referring to her in the past tense set off alarm bells in Kurt's mind. "So, uh... are you still friends with her, or..."

He trailed off as Blaine shook his head with a rueful grimace. "No, she went to a different high school, and we promised we'd stay in touch, but you know how it is."

Kurt offered him a sympathetic smile. "I do indeed. Such is the curse of being 14 years old." But he had to wonder; did Blaine have any other friends? Had he kept any of his friends from Westerville?

Or the real question; had he _had_ any friends at Westerville?

* * *

"Hey, new kid, welcome to McKinley!"

"Loser!"

Slam.

Blaine collided hard with the lockers as he was shoved into them. Horrified, he cringed away from the jock as he strolled past, laughing and high-fiving his friend.

For a few minutes, he simply leant against the lockers, breathing in and out to regain control and fighting back memories from Westerville. Memories of being shouted at, tormented, pushed around, _Sadie Hawkins_-

He stopped that memory in its tracks by focussing on the pain where he'd been shoved into the lockers, concentrating on the pain, a tactic he'd learnt at Westerville. Physical pain was easier to deal with than emotional pain.

The panic threatening to overwhelm him subsided a little after a minute or so, and he was able to breathe normally again and straighten up, fixing his clothes.

It was no surprise to him, on glancing up from the floor, that no-one was looking at him. No-one was offering him help. Nobody _cared_.

He'd been stupid to think that moving here might make the slightest difference. That this would be the safe haven he'd hoped to find at Dalton, and had began to wonder if he'd found here. This place was just the same as Westerville. He was going to spend the next three years being tormented just because he was small and _different_, even if they didn't know he was gay, and he was going to have to put up with it because he literally had no other choice. He had no other choice than to be tortured for three years in a school where nobody cared, not even the teachers. Where going to the school administration would get you absolutely nowhere because they didn't care about your safety. Where nobody was in the slightest bit interested in how you were.

Nobody... except Kurt.

He let out a long breath, calming down enough to be able to function normally again. Though he was positive that nobody in this corridor would have noticed if he'd broken down on the floor.

It wasn't just that they didn't care, of course. It was the same in every school; they were just _used_ to it. This was how things were, and you had to play by the rules. Everyone was busy watching their own back. They didn't have time to watch out for someone else.

But Kurt was different. And, from what he'd seen so far, so were Kurt's friends.

So maybe the school was exactly the same.

This difference was, this time, he had real friends.

* * *

Kurt glanced over at Blaine as they walked out of English – their last lesson – the next day, hearing him groan. "What's up?" He asked, noticing that he was looking at his phone, and leaning towards him a little to try and peer at his screen.

Blaine shook his head a little, sliding his phone into his pocket. "Mom's been held up at work. She won't be here for another three hours."

Seeing the look on his face, Kurt spoke without thinking. "You can come over mine, if you'd like."

Blaine looked up at him, a shocked expression on his face. "Really?"

Already cursing himself, he shrugged. "Well, if you want to, of course."

"Of course I want to! I want to meet your dad, since you spend so much time extolling his virtues." Blaine responded quickly, with a smile.

"'Extolling his virtues?'" Kurt repeated, laughing.

"Reading Wuthering Heights is affecting my vocabulary." Blaine explained quickly, looking a little sheepish.

"I can see that, Blaine." He responded dryly. "Come on, let's go."

"So you walk home, then?"

"Ever since my father took away my car, yes."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Blaine said solemnly.

Kurt gave him a stern look. "You should be. That car is my baby."

They settled into companionable silence, occasionally speaking up to talk about school or their favourite musicals (Kurt still couldn't believe that Blaine preferred Hairspray to The Sound of Music. ("The songs are more fun, Kurt!") and, on finding out, had studiously ignored him for several minutes before Blaine's sorrowful puppy eyes had won him over.)

"So, it's just you and your dad, then?" Blaine asked hesitantly half an hour later, as he followed Kurt into his house and into the main room.

Kurt nodded. "Yes. My mother died when I was 8." He paused, eyes lighting on the only picture of her that Burt kept in the house, on the little coffee table. "Cancer." He added, looking back at Blaine.

"I'm sorry. That's awful for an 8-year-old to have to go through. I mean, it's awful at any age, but..." Blaine left the sentence unfinished; there wasn't really any need to continue it.

"I really miss her." He didn't know why he felt he could tell Blaine this. Maybe it was the understanding sympathy Blaine's eyes shone with. "Dad's great, but… he doesn't understand me in the way that she did. And she would've been better at dealing with the whole, well, 'gay thing'."

Blaine nodded understandingly, walking over to stand next to Kurt, looking at the picture. "She was pretty." He commented gently, glancing at Kurt. "You look a lot like her."

At any other time he would have taken offence, asking if Blaine was calling him feminine, but at this moment, he took it for what it was: Blaine's honesty and kindness. "Dad says so, too."

"Has he never… y'know, dated anyone else?"

"No. He's still not over her. It's very romantic, in a way." Kurt sighed a little.

"What would you think if he did?" Blaine asked neutrally, head tilted to look at him with openness and curiosity.

"I… I think I'd be okay with it, I guess. I miss mom, but… I want him to be happy." Kurt told him honestly. He'd thought about this quite a lot when he was 13 and his father had made a lady friend. At the time, he'd been unsure. Maybe his father had picked up on this, or maybe it just hadn't turned into anything between him and the woman, but one day Burt had simply stopped seeing her.

"That's very mature." Blaine commented.

"I like to think I'm very mature." Kurt teased a little, just to see Blaine smile. "Do, uh, do you like Grey's Anatomy?" He asked, feeling a change of subject was in order, and needing some way to occupy them until Blaine's mom turned up.

"Surely the only appropriate answer to that question is yes."

Kurt gave him a serious look. "Well, I was thinking I'd have to throw you out of the house if you said no." Blaine flinched, and he frowned. "I… I was joking."

"I know." Blaine shook his head a little as if to clear it. "Sorry. I, uh, I'm not always good at telling when people are joking."

Deciding after a moment that he shouldn't push the issue – if Blaine had simply been thinking of something else, or had misheard him, he wasn't going to embarrass him by making him admit it – Kurt walked over to the TV, grabbing the Grey's Anatomy Season 1 DVD, turning to wave it at Blaine.

"Good plan." Blaine grinned, before pulling out his phone. "Uh, could I have your address, so I can tell mom where I am?"

"Oh, right." Kurt recited it, putting the DVD in and turning on the TV, before bounding over to Blaine, pulling him down onto the couch next to him. Blaine let out a little squeak, and he snorted. "I haven't dragged you here to kill you. Calm down."

"I'm a jumpy person, I can't help it." Blaine had finished texting now, and looked attentively at the screen.

Kurt did too, though his mind was ticking over the last few months. He'd known Blaine, what, over 2 months now?

In that time, he'd never heard him mention his father.

It took the length of one and a half episodes for him to gather the courage to ask. Speaking over Meredith talking on-screen, he inquired casually, "So… what about your father?"

Was it his imagination, or did Blaine tense a little?

"What about my father?"

Was that tone overly-casual? Was he reading too much into things? Did he need to stop watching detective shows? Probably.

"I just… you've never mentioned him. I was just wondering about him."

Blaine shrugged slightly. "Uh, he's a dad, I guess?" He scrunched up his eyes a little. "We don't have a very good relationship, really. I'm closer with mom, although I'm not really a mommy's boy either. I dunno, I've never been really close with either parent."

Kurt nodded, though it always grated on him a little when teenagers were so casual about not being close to their parents. He would have killed for the chance to have his mother back, and so many just didn't care enough about their parents. But if Blaine had personal problems with his parents, then he wasn't going to lecture him or get down on him for it. He'd just be here for his best friend.

"Well, as long as there isn't any topic I'll have to avoid when I meet your parents, then." He joked, to ease the tension that seemed to have settled over the room, and turned his attention back to the TV, missing the slight frown on Blaine's face.

* * *

"Hey, guys." Blaine began cautiously, walking over to Kurt and Mercedes where they stood, deep in conversation. "Uh, I didn't want to say anything at the time, but... are you both okay?"

Mercedes let out an embarrassed laugh. Kurt had the grace to look sheepish as he turned to face Blaine. "If you're asking about Mercedes' behaviour yesterday, and mine the day before, don't worry. We took something."

Blaine's eyebrows shot up. "And that's supposed to _stop_ me worrying?" He asked incredulously, completely unsure how to react when your friends told you they'd taken _drugs_.

Mercedes snorted and quickly explained. "Finn was advised by the nurse to take some vitamin to energise him, and it _really _energised him. So all the guys took some for their mash-up on Tuesday and were awesome, so we copied them yesterday to make it equal."

Kurt nodded. "The vitamin's over-the-counter, but..."

"Now we feel awful." Mercedes shrugged as Tina and Artie came over to join them. "Mr Schue seemed so happy to see us so energised, that we feel bad for cheating."

Blaine nearly sighed with relief. 'Over-the-counter' vitamins sounded a lot better than 'we took something'. "Well, I hope you've learnt your lesson." He told them, mock-severely.

"I feel t-terrible." Tina admitted, glancing at Artie, who nodded in agreement.

Finn strode past them at that moment, face set in a determined expression, and Kurt raised an eyebrow. "It looks like Finn's on the warpath."

"Do you think he's going to tell Mr Schue?" Artie wondered aloud.

Mercedes shrugged. "If he doesn't, one of us will." They all nodded, and Blaine's lips quirked in a smile. They really were good people.

Watching Kurt smile as he talked with his friends, he thought about how lucky he was to have met Kurt. He thought about how lucky he was that he was already so close to Kurt.

And he thought about what he was going to say when he came out to Kurt later today.

* * *

"See you tomorrow!" Mercedes waved at Kurt and Blaine as she left at the end of the day, and they both waved back.

Blaine fumbled with his locker combination, managing to enter it wrong twice before getting it correct, quickly throwing his books into his locker before shutting it. He'd been trying to build up his courage to tell Kurt all day. But he'd wanted to tell him while they were alone together – he wasn't ready for anyone else to know yet.

"Come on, Blaine." Kurt had already walked a few paces off, impatient to get home. He felt a small twist of guilt that he was keeping Kurt from going home, but pushed the feeling down. No excuses. He had made up his mind to come out, and he was going to, before his courage failed.

"Kurt. I... I need to tell you something." He kept his eyes fixed on his locker.

* * *

In Kurt's experience, the phrase 'I need to tell you something' was never followed by good news. "What is it, Blaine?" He attempted to be casual, but on seeing how Blaine was staring at his locker, bit his lip and relented a little, taking the few steps to stand next to him, leaning against the lockers and looking at Blaine. "Hey, relax, okay? You can tell me anything."

Blaine nodded, still not looking at him. "I know. I just, uh, I'm..." He closed his eyes, and when he spoke, sounded more confident. "I'm just... I haven't had the best experience with telling people this before. And I know you're not going to react badly, so this is really stupid of me." He opened his eyes and turned to look at Kurt. "And I need to tell you." He paused, swallowing hard. "Kurt... I'm gay."

Kurt simply stared at him for a few moments before blankly asking, "Wait, what?"

"I'm gay." Blaine repeated, staring at him and looking like he was about to throw up.

"I-I heard, I'm just... you're gay?" It was like he'd fallen into some weird dream. Blaine was gay. Blaine... was gay. Huh.

It actually made a lot of sense, now he thought about it.

"Yes. And I'm so sorry for not having told you earlier, Kurt, I just-" Blaine began, but Kurt cut him off.

"Don't be sorry. I've been there, remember?" He raised an eyebrow, and Blaine managed a smile. "I know what it's like." He hesitated, aware of how Blaine had worded his lead-up to his revelation. "What... what did you mean, when you said you hadn't had the best experience when telling people, before?"

Blaine's lip twisted at the corner. "Can you forgive me if I say I'm not ready to talk about it, yet?" He asked, and Kurt pushed down his disappointment. "I can't tell you, not yet, but I will. One day, I will, I promise."

Blaine's earnestness was enough to make Kurt smile. "I believe you." His eyes raked over Blaine, taking in the relief clear in the boy's expression. "I know your mom's outside waiting to pick you up, so I won't keep you any longer. But thank you for telling me, Blaine." He stepped forward and hugged Blaine tightly, feeling his best friend clinging to him in response and hearing a whisper of 'thank you' which only made him hug Blaine tighter, before letting him go.

Meeting eyes that were shining with tears, he smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Talk to you later, Kurt." Blaine practically beamed before darting off.

Kurt watched him go with a fond smile, before leaving to go home.

The fact that Blaine's sexuality would eventually be known to the school niggled at him, and he wished it was possible for Blaine to escape, but with the gossip network in this school, it would be practically unavoidable.

He'd just have to be a supportive friend when that time came.

**A/N: If my word count keeps increasing every time, this fic is going to end up extremely long...**


	7. Chapter 7: Keep Holding On

**A/N: Happy Thanksgiving for Thursday! :D Sorry this is late again, I tried to stay up to finish it but some lovable idiot persuaded me to go to sleep.**

**Need-to-know information for any non-Americans: Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving (today!) and is the busiest shopping day of the year in America. The prices are lowered, the shops open early, chaos abounds... (PS: I'm not actually American. I just know a lot about America...) So armed with that information, you may read!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Glee, Blaine would have covered Iris by now. **

**Chapter Seven: Keep Holding On**

"Guess who the new co-director of the Glee club is?" Kurt sat down at their table in the cafeteria, glaring moodily at the table.

Blaine frowned at him, looking around at the gloomy faces of Artie, Mercedes, and Tina as they arrived. "Uh..." He really had no clue what would cause them all to be so unhappy. Then again, despite all he knew about the Glee club, he didn't know who they didn't like.

"Sue Sylvester, Cheerios coach and Mr Schue's arch-nemesis." Kurt revealed, stabbing moodily at his food with his fork.

Blaine was pretty glad Kurt hadn't made him guess, since, being fairly new, he was still unaware of the existence of half the teachers here.

"Oh. Is... is she the one who gets really violent when she's mad?" Blaine questioned, recalling seeing the tracksuit-clad woman pushing students around and throwing various things at people. It was a wonder she hadn't been fired yet. Maybe Principal Figgins was really scared of her. Not that Blaine blamed him. He was pretty scared of her, too.

"Yeah, that's her. She's always trying to sabotage the Glee club." Mercedes told him, with a concerned expression. The other Glee kids nodded emphatically.

Blaine nodded, frowning a little. "So, why is she the one co-directing the club, if she hates it so much?"

"Figgins chose who the co-director was. She's got a good track record, so she was the obvious choice." Mercedes explained.

"Is there a chance she'll actually be good for the club?" Blaine queried. After all, if she'd coached the Cheerios and led them to victory so many times, as he'd heard, then surely she'd do some good?

"I wouldn't get your hopes up. I just saw her and Mr Schue yelling at each other." Rachel announced, appearing from nowhere and pulling up a seat, clutching Blaine's shoulder for a moment to steady her as she did so. He suppressed a yelp; she had a tight grip. "Personally, I blame the boys." Here she shot Artie and Kurt pointed looks. "If it weren't for them, we wouldn't be in this predicament."

"Rachel, it was Finn's idea, so if you want to blame anybody, blame him." Mercedes snapped, obviously tired of the short brunette.

"Actually, you snitched on everyone, so it's your fault." Kurt added, looking up at Rachel with irritation, and Blaine took a fleeting moment to think about the fact that by saying this, Kurt was probably just trying to shift the blame from his crush.

"I thought you said you would prefer for Mr Schuester to know the truth?" Blaine reminded him gently, and everyone quieted to look at him, even Rachel, who had been about to speak. And that was quite a big achievement, stopping Rachel from speaking. He was quite proud of himself. Much as he did actually like the girl, she could be incredibly irritating.

"Blaine's right. And we're all equally guilty. We agreed to take the vitamin." Artie shrugged, and Blaine felt a warm sense of belonging, as someone they actually liked and listened to.

The other four all shifted uncomfortably, and Mercedes let out a sigh. "We need to stop turning on each other. We're supposed to be a team."

"Tell that to them," Kurt muttered, nodding to the popular members of the Glee club, who sat at the popular kids' table.

"We should be happy for them, not jealous, Kurt." Rachel admonished.

The look on Kurt's face at this admittedly very unfair statement was so fierce that Blaine interjected quickly before bodily harm could occur. "At least Finn's looking less tired," he offered, and all of them glanced at the football player for a moment. He looked back at them and gave them a quick, if befuddled, smile, before turning his attention back to Quinn.

Bless Finn. He did try. Well, he did as long as trying wouldn't do any harm to his reputation.

Rachel huffed. "Well, if he spent less time focussing his attention on Quinn-"

"Shut up, Rachel." Five wearied voices chimed, and Blaine only felt guilty for a moment before Rachel switched tactics to ask about everyone's plans for shopping on Black Friday.

Halfway through her chiding Artie for not knowing what Black Friday was, he caught Kurt's eye as Mercedes leant in to ask Kurt something about their shopping plans for that day, and quickly glanced away to focus on eating. He was pretty sure Kurt had been about to ask him what his plans were, and if he admitted that he didn't actually have any plans, Kurt would probably ask him to join them.

Though he liked shopping, he was pretty sure getting seen shopping in Lima with an out-and-proud gay boy and said boy's female friend on Black Friday of all days would be like waving around a huge neon sign saying 'I'm gay!'

And he really wasn't ready for that yet.

* * *

"Hey, Kurt!" Blaine's voice sounded chipper when he picked up the phone, which Kurt found a little hard to handle after the afternoon he'd had.

"Hey, Blaine." He responded tiredly, reaching up to rub the back of his head, where he could feel a headache developing.

"How was Glee club?" Blaine's voice softened a little, obviously realising something had happened.

Kurt let out a groan. "Coach Sylvester and Mr Schue split us up into two groups." He paused to let this sink in. "And she chose all the _minority_ members."

"I'm guessing that includes you?" Blaine asked carefully.

"You got it. Santana, Mike, Mercedes, Artie, Tina, Matt, and I, have all been selected for 'Sue's Kids', which seems to be a bizarre stand against Mr Schue for not paying enough attention to us, or something. We're all pretty confused." Kurt admitted, shaking his head a little. Though it was nice to have attention paid to him for once, this wasn't the type of nicety Sue Sylvester was famous for. Actually, she wasn't known for any niceties. It was presumed she didn't have any.

"Well, that's... odd." He could almost _hear_ Blaine's frown. "So are you still in the New Directions, or...?"

"Each group is doing one number. I really don't know what she and Mr Schue think they're playing at. We work better as a team, and surely it's going to seem more bigoted to the judges if there's one number with just minority students and another with white kids?" Kurt bit his lip.

"You'd think so." Blaine agreed. "Give it time, though. You never know, maybe it'll actually turn out really well."

"I hope so, because she's already banned us from talking to the others on pain of death." Kurt responded. "And I wish I was joking."

Blaine made a shocked noise. "Surely that's illegal?" He questioned, sounding vaguely horrified. Well, it wasn't a surprise. People were often horrified by Sue. And the poor boy hadn't even met her yet. Kurt was kind of interested to see what nickname she gave him.

"Probably, but it doesn't bother her." Kurt exhaled deeply. "I guess we'll see how it goes. I'm just worried she's doing this to get at Mr Schue, and not for us. I mean, she's never shown an interest in helping minorities before."

"Maybe she had a life-altering experience." Blaine guessed.

Kurt snorted. "Right. Like, she's high off of something?"

Blaine laughed. "What, like vitamin D?" He teased.

Kurt went red, and was glad that Blaine couldn't see him. "I told you, if you bring that up again, I am not afraid to burn all your hair gel products."

"And I told _you_, if you do that, I'll burn your wardrobe." Blaine fired back.

"Okay, that's crossing a line. I'm hanging up on you now." Kurt told him sternly, and pressed 'end call'.

He waited one minute before sending a text: _Goodnight, I'll see you tomorrow._

The response _Goodnight! Dream of hair gel! :) _made him smile as he started his moisturising routine.

He didn't dream of hair gel.

* * *

It was Black Friday, the shops were packed, and Kurt and Mercedes were shopping. As experienced shoppers, they'd done this for the last two years without any (lasting) damage, although Kurt had spent the weekend sulking last year because he'd had a pair of pants he absolutely loved stolen from underneath his nose.

Kurt flipped through a clothing rack, shaking his head at everything before moving on, totally unbothered by the crowded shop. This was Lima, Ohio, where there was only one shopping mall worth going to. It was always fairly crowded. And since the prices were actually _affordable_ today... well.

Mercedes' eyes lingered on a lurid green top. Kurt noticed and snapped his fingers in her face. "No." He pulled a chequered red hoodie from a clothes hanger and handed it to her, before resuming his quest for actual _clothing_, something that was hard to find, since it was Ohio. God, he couldn't wait to be out of this place.

Mercedes watched him for a moment, before moving closer to him to ask casually, "Do you like Blaine?" as she flicked idly through the rack.

"Of course I do, he's one of my closest friends." Kurt responded, giving her a frown before returning to his mission. Was she asking because she was jealous? He had been paying a lot of attention to Blaine recently, and Mercedes was supposed to be his best friend... maybe he should work on that.

"That's not the kind of 'liking' I mean." She told him quietly.

He just about managed to stop himself from asking if she'd taken any drugs he should be aware of, but it was close. "Mercedes," he began, with absolute and exaggerated calm, "No."

"I'd be fine if you did, you know." Her eyes were beseeching.

"I believe you!" And he did, because even though she may have been angry at him for a while, she wasn't homophobic and he knew she was totally fine with it. "But I honestly don't think of Blaine in that way. He's my _friend_." Honestly, the idea was laughable. Sure, he'd noticed that Blaine was cute (oh, so very cute) but he liked Finn, and besides, just because Blaine was gay didn't mean he should automatically start crushing on him.

"Okay, if you say so." She chose a pink top which Kurt didn't approve of, but he let her win this one. Sometimes, you had to pick your battles. "So, is there anyone you like?" The genuine interest was a relief; he'd been worrying that she was never going to forgive him for the 'you busted my heart!' incident. But... his face heated up, and she breathed "There is! C'mon, who's the lucky boy?" She asked with a coy smile, bumping his hip with hers.

He bumped her hip in return and sighed. "If you must know, it's Finn." He admitted quietly, glancing around to check that nobody they knew was in earshot.

"Finn?" She repeated, loudly. He shushed her, looking nervously around. "Sorry, boo. I'm just... a little surprised. I mean... Finn? Kurt, you know he's not..."

"I know. But the heart wants what the heart wants." He shrugged. "And you never know, it could happen." He ignored her doubtful look and muttered statement that 'there's a reason Quinn's knocked up', and turned back to the clothing racks.

A boy could dream. Even if his dreams were ridiculous.

* * *

"So, how was your Thanksgiving?" Mercedes asked Kurt in their final lesson on the first Monday back after said holiday.

"Well, Thanksgiving dinner was actually pretty similar to our Friday dinners, except for the addition of a turkey." A smile graced his face. "It was great, though. I mean, I always love spending time with my dad, hence the dinners. It was a tradition my mom started." Mercedes nodded sympathetically. "How about yours?" He asked her.

"It was awesome! I missed my cousins, so seeing them again was cool. The whole family came down." Mercedes was practically beaming, and Kurt smiled a little at her enthusiasm. He knew she had quite a large family, which he'd met only once. Their kindness was seemingly boundless, and he was glad she had such a lovely family. "Hey, how was yours, Blaine?" She added, with a bright smile.

Blaine was half-turned in his chair to listen to their conversation, and now frowned a little, shrugging. "Uh, it was fine, I suppose."

Her smile faded a little. "You suppose?" She echoed, and Kurt could hear the vague concern he felt mirrored in her voice, behind the slightly jokey tone. Thanksgiving was supposed to be a good time, a family time. But if Blaine's relationship with his parents wasn't too great, as he'd told Kurt before...

Blaine gave her a half-smile. "Yeah. I mean, my brother called at the last minute to say he couldn't make it, so obviously everyone was really disappointed." There was some underlying bitterness in his voice, and Kurt frowned a little. "But we didn't end up calling the police this year, so that was a plus." He added, in an attempt at a casual voice.

Mercedes and Kurt both gaped at him in shock. "You had to call the police one year? _Why_?" Kurt asked, horrified.

"It's... a long story." Blaine hedged, glancing uncertainly to the front, where their teacher still wasn't. It was normal for their teacher to be late, and so nobody was concerned.

Kurt opened his mouth to speak, to tell Blaine that they had time to hear a story that involved the police being called, but was interrupted.

"Excuse me, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation-" Rachel began as she turned to face them.

"Yes you could, Berry." Kurt and Mercedes said simultaneously, Mercedes fed up, Kurt irritated.

"-And frankly, I'm offended that you didn't ask me about my Thanksgiving," she went on, ignoring them.

"How was your Thanksgiving, Rachel?" Blaine asked, turning to face her with a charming smile.

Did she just _blush_? Kurt wondered. Probably. It wasn't as if she was used to attractive boys paying attention to her. Or to any boys paying attention to her, really.

"It was exceptionally brilliant, thank you, Blaine." She beamed. "For Thanksgiving dinner, my dads invited some friends over and we gave them an impromptu concert afterwards."

"That sounds delightful. Did they enjoy it?" Blaine asked, appearing totally interested. Maybe he _was_ totally interested. He was too nice for his own good, in Kurt's opinion.

"Of course they did. Where do you think I inherited my talent from? We're a very talented family." Rachel smiled.

Kurt wondered if 'she's Rachel freaking Berry!' was an acceptable reason for murder.

"Oh, so one of them is your biological father?" Blaine questioned.

Kurt fought the urge to slap his hand over Blaine's mouth to stop him talking. Once you started Rachel Berry off talking about her family, she rarely stopped.

"Yes, but we don't know which one, and we prefer it that way." Rachel beamed.

She was so proud of having two dads. Much as Kurt detested her, he really hoped his kids were like her in that respect. If he ever had children, of course, which would first involve finding a male to have children _with_. And considering he was living in Lima, Ohio, his choices were limited. Of course, he had his eyes on someone, but that someone probably wasn't going to return his feelings any time soon.

Well, he could dream.

And as the teacher arrived and thrust them all into Emily Bronte's wonderful world, he completely forgot about Blaine's 'long story' about Thanksgiving.

* * *

"Hey, Blaine." Kurt caught up to his friend as they left English. "So, I can't stay long, Mr Schue wants us for rehearsal." He let out a sigh. "I can't tell you how good it feels to be able to say that, after being one of Sue's Kids for so long." He admitted. Sure, Mr Schue wasn't always good with treating them equally, but at least he cared about them in a way that Coach Sylvester certainly wouldn't.

Blaine laughed. "Go on, then, what did you want to say?"

"Well, it's more of a question. If your Thanksgiving wasn't so good – and trust me, I know how that goes – Mercedes and I went shopping last Friday, and we're planning to go again this Saturday, for some well-deserved therapy after the torture of being under Coach Sylvester's regime. So I was wondering if you'd want to come with us." Kurt beamed, convinced that Blaine would like this idea. He knew Blaine liked shopping. What gay boy wouldn't?

The laugh that came from Blaine was so derisive that Kurt doubted for an instant that it _had_ came from Blaine.

"Something amusing?" He asked, hurt and already going on the defensive.

"Kurt, come on. Going shopping with you and Mercedes would be like holding up a neon sign saying "Look at me, I'm a massive fag!" No thanks." Blaine responded, before looking immediately shocked at his own words.

Kurt's jaw clenched, ignoring the guilt flashing across Blaine's face. "Right. Well, we wouldn't want that, would we?" He spun on his heel to go.

Blaine caught his arm, and hurriedly let go on receiving the death glare Kurt sent him. "Kurt, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that-"

"Yes, you did. You don't want to be treated like me, which, fair enough-" After all, who would want to be thrown into Dumpsters, slushied, pushed into lockers, and verbally abused every _single_ day?

"Kurt, no-"

"-and you're definitely doing a good job of fitting in so far, so if Mercedes and are so damaging to your reputation, feel free to pretend we don't exist. Everyone else does. Why don't you join the football team? I'm sure you'd fit in perfectly there." By the time he finished this, he was breathing heavily, and Blaine was staring at the floor. "Now, if you don't mind, I have to go and sing to my crush's pregnant girlfriend about how we're all here for her now everyone knows she's knocked up." With these words, he turned and stalked off, desperately trying to ignore the twisting feeling in his stomach.

Blaine hadn't deserved that tirade. He'd spoken without thinking and had been sorry at once, a feeling Kurt knew well.

Pushing his conscience away, he headed for the auditorium.

Like he'd told Blaine, he had a song to help perform.

* * *

Blaine took a deep breath to stop the tears he could feel prickling his eyes.

That was _stupid _of him. He hadn't meant to say that. He'd just had a crappy week and the very idea of anyone finding out that he was gay had filled him with panic, fuelling words he didn't mean.

How did he manage to screw that up? It would have been simple enough to turn Kurt down, and Kurt would've understood, if he hadn't phrased it in that way, and especially if he had managed to avoid using such a hurtful word that he knew Kurt heard every day from people who certainly weren't his friends.

It was just...

The very _idea_ of the rest of the school knowing he was gay was terrifying. He couldn't handle going through what had happened at Westerville again.

He knew that at some point, he'd find the courage to be true to himself, and the ability to stop caring about any bullying that would occur. He could be confident and proud, like Kurt. But at the moment, the memories and pain from the Sadie Hawkins dance were still fresh in his mind. The thought of coming out was terrifying.

It wasn't as if he was currently popular and liked by all; he was sort of floating, mainly, and the rest of the school hadn't yet figured out where he fitted in. So he wasn't safe, or at least he wouldn't be safe for long.

At this point, he was really just putting off the inevitable, but was there really so much wrong with that? Was there so much wrong with wanting to stay invisible for as large a percentage of the school year as possible?

Realising that pretty much everyone had left school by now, on their way home to families who _hadn't_ spent their Thanksgiving slyly reminding them that they were never going to be as good as their brother, he glanced up from staring at the floor and began slowly walking, not really thinking about his destination until he found himself outside the auditorium.

He smiled a little, hearing the notes of 'Keep Holding On' from inside, and walked in, standing just inside the entrance where he could escape their notice, watching the Glee club singing.

Well, watching Kurt, really.

Who he'd have to apologise to again tomorrow. And try to explain. He wasn't ready to talk about Westerville yet, but he'd tell him some of it.

"_Whatever's meant to be, we'll work it out perfectly_," Blaine sang quietly along with them, eyes fixed on Kurt, and meaning the lyrics completely.

Singing gave him a pang of regret as he watched them. Really, his biggest regret from Westerville was not joining the Glee club.

His coming out had brought him here, in the end, and he couldn't regret that. And the bullying had been out of his control, so he couldn't really list that as a regret anyway.

But not joining the Glee club... Music was something he really enjoyed, really loved, and he was talented at it, as his mom was always telling him. Had he joined, maybe he'd have had real friends, and an escape from the bullying.

Yet he hadn't.

And even here, with real friends, one of whom knew he was gay and didn't care, he still wasn't brave enough to join the Glee club.

With a sigh, he turned to walk away, knowing he was late for meeting his mom. "_Keep holding on, 'cause you know we'll make it through, we'll make it through..._"

* * *

"Hi." Came the hesitant voice next to Kurt's shoulder, the next day before the first bell.

Kurt shut his locker and turned, leaning his shoulder against his locker and raising an eyebrow at Blaine, who looked nervous but determined. A sense of déjà vu hit him, and he sighed, overwhelmed with guilt for snapping at Blaine yesterday. "Hi, Blaine."

"I'm sorry." Blaine told him, somehow managing to look as guilty and sorry as if he'd set fire to Kurt's wardrobe. He could only imagine how sorry Blaine would look if he actually _had_ set fire to Kurt's wardrobe. He had a feeling apology gift baskets would be involved.

Kurt breathed out deeply. "You shouldn't have to apologise. I overreacted." He admitted.

"I deserved it." Blaine shrugged.

"No, you didn't." Kurt responded, fiercely. Leaning in closer, he spoke quietly. "I shouldn't have said that. I know you're scared of coming out. So, I'm sorry."

Blaine nodded slightly. "Thank you. I just... Kurt, I overreacted too. But, uh, it was for a reason." He took a deep breath. "The reason I'm here is because of what happened at my last school. I... I came out. And... the bullying got so bad, I had no other choice but to transfer."

_Holy crap_. No wonder Blaine had seemed so freaked out at the idea of the rest of the school knowing. He hadn't been exaggerating when he'd said coming out hadn't gone so well for him before.

Sure, Kurt was bullied, but it had never gotten so bad that he'd considered transferring. And the way Blaine said he had no other choice...

It must have been really, really bad.

"Then I'm really sorry." Kurt told him.

"I'm not trying to make you feel guilty." Blaine clarified, with a half-smile.

"Then I won't feel guilty." Kurt smiled at him. "And for the record, you don't have to feel like you have to come out any time soon, or do anything gay or whatever. Take your time. And I'm always here for you. Remember that."

Blaine nodded, a grateful smile spreading across his face.

Kurt pulled him into a quick hug, before releasing him as the bell went. "I'll see you at lunch, okay?"

Blaine nodded, shooting him a smile before walking away with a definite spring in his step.

Kurt smiled, glad they'd made up, and glad that Blaine had revealed a little bit more about himself.

Slowly, he was putting the pieces together to get the full picture.

**A/N: Yay for clichés! (But seriously, sorry. It was necessary).**


	8. Chapter 8: Teenage Dream

**A/N: Hi! Thank you to everyone who's followed, favourite, or reviewed this. I'm grateful for all of you, and if I could send you all a box of cookies, I would.**

**It's only about 2AM in Western America, so it's almost still Friday over there... (But really, I'm sorry! Internet issues)**

**So, I need you all to ignore the fact that Katy Perry's Teenage Dream only came out in 2010.**

**Disclaimer: I don't have enough money to pay for the lawsuit if I claim to own Glee, so, no, I don't.**

**Chapter Eight: Teenage Dream.**

"So, you and Puck?" Kurt asked Rachel loudly, and very incredulously, at lunchtime. He didn't mean to sound quite so incredulous. Okay, maybe he did. It was _Rachel_, after all. Rachel and Puck, apparently, which was mind-blowing. Of all the combinations he could have imagined in the romantic life of the Glee club, that combination was second on the list of Least Likely to Ever Happen, right below Santana and Artie. Of course, this list didn't include combinations that wouldn't happen simply because of the sexual orientation of either of them.

Blaine glanced up, a slight frown appearing on his face, not yet up-to-date on the latest developments in the wild and crazy lives of the New Directions. For a bunch of misfits, they did have a surprising amount of gossip-worthy goings-ons.

"He sang Sweet Caroline for her in Glee club yesterday." Kurt told him. He'd thought this news would be all over the school by now, but most people seemed uninterested in Puck's love life. Maybe nobody cared because Puck's love life was less of a 'love' life and more of a 'competition to sleep with every female in the school' life. Yeah, that was probably.

"Oh. That's sweet – excuse the pun." Blaine smiled at Rachel. "So... are you going to go out with him, then?" He asked, acting interested. At this point, Kurt had to concede that he probably _was_ genuinely interested. Blaine was just a caring person. Kurt would've felt bad for not being more caring, had Berry not been so extremely irritating.

"Oh, come _on_," Mercedes rolled her eyes as she looked up from her phone. "Like Puck actually wants anything from her other than to get into her too-short skirt."

Blaine bit his lip, looking as if he wanted to say something, but refrained, instead digging in to his lunch.

Rachel glanced self-consciously down at her skirt, adjusting it a little before glaring at Mercedes. "For your information, Puck and I have a lot in common."

"What, that you're both Jewish and extremely annoying?" Mercedes asked, sniggering. Kurt couldn't help laughing, too. She had a point; the two were incredibly different. Rachel was a hard-working, ambitious, fashion-blind diva. Puck was a lazy, badass stud. They'd never shown any interest in each other before. In fact, Rachel had a crush on Finn, last time Kurt looked, and Puck seemed to like Quinn a little more than any dude should like his best friend's girlfriend.

"You're just jealous of our budding love, Mercedes, and I can understand why. It can't be easy when the nearest thing to a love affair you've ever had was with someone who's as gay as a daffodil and as flamboyant as a handbag full of rainbows." Rachel responded, looking more irritated than Kurt had ever seen her. Which was saying something- she'd walked out of rehearsal about five times, by now. He was impressed with her use of the similes, though.

"Oh, girl, at least my guy's actually interested in my personality." Mercedes snapped at her.

"Do they not realise that this argument is kind of ridiculous?" Blaine asked Kurt quietly, as the two girls continued quarrelling.

Kurt leant across and stole one of Mercedes' tots while she was distracted. "No, they don't seem to."

"Right." Blaine smiled at him. "So, how's your assignment for Glee club going?" He asked, finishing his lunch off and neatly laying his knife and fork on his plate.

"Awfully. There isn't a single song in the world that goes with Bust a Move. I'm beginning to wonder if Mr Schue set us an impossible task just for the safe of teaching us some stupid lesson." Kurt admitted, rolling his eyes. Their teacher was a little _too_ obsessed with having some kind of 'lesson' for each assignment.

Blaine nodded sympathetically. "Maybe it's a metaphor for how you're all going to be single forever?" He suggested, a smile tugging at his lips.

Kurt threw a tot at him.

Just another normal day at William McKinley High School.

* * *

"... and for this month-long project on Wuthering Heights, you will be paired up." Their English teacher told them all, beaming with enthusiasm as he looked around at their not-so-enthusiastic faces. Blaine almost grimaced, but managed to school his features. He was pretty sure that Rachel wouldn't appreciate it, considering she was the person he'd probably have to work with. "But I want you to work outside of your comfort zone! Don't work with the person sitting next to you. Broaden your horizons!" He clapped twice, indicating that they should all jump up and race across the room to introduce themselves to someone they'd never spoken to before. Maybe he should be a Drama teacher instead of an English teacher, Blaine mused. He certainly had the theatrical flair.

Blaine turned in his chair, intending to ask Kurt to be his partner, and found Kurt smirking triumphantly at Mercedes as he closed a hand over her fist.

"I'll pair up with you, Blaine," Kurt told him with a self-satisfied smile, letting go of Mercedes' hand.

Mercedes looked fed up as she gathered her things and stood, eyeing Rachel with a look that suggested she intended to murder her. Blaine quickly grabbed his stuff, standing and swapping seats with her.

"Don't think I didn't see that." Blaine said quietly, once he was seated next to Kurt.

Kurt looked at him, the picture of innocence. "See what?" He asked, but he was avoiding meeting Blaine's eyes.

"You and Mercedes, playing rock-paper-scissors because neither of you want to be paired with Rachel for this project." Blaine stated, not accusingly, because in some ways he could understand. Rachel could be incredibly annoying, and he should probably take it as a compliment that they were pretty much fighting over him. But still...

He gazed at Rachel, who was chattering about possible study dates. She was so driven, it was kind of refreshing, since most of the students in the school were the laziest entities in the universe and couldn't give a crap about their education. And she was ambitious- she knew what she wanted to do, and she knew how to get there. In many ways, Blaine admired her.

"Can you blame us?" Kurt asked, though the side of his mouth twisted up and he looked a little guilty. He hesitated, then exhaled. "I'll partner up with her next project. We have to do two this year." He shrugged, before adding, "And you'll get to go with Mercedes."

Blaine couldn't pretend he was entirely comfortable with her yet– he was pretty sure there was still some underlying resentment on her side, for the way he'd sort of swept in and stolen her best friend. Of course, it was possible he was entirely over-thinking this and imagining feelings that weren't even there, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Besides, he was still a little concerned that she might have a crush on him, although Kurt had assured him that she didn't have any crushes right now.

"So, when do you want to meet up for this? I can't do Thursdays, Tuesdays or Fridays." Kurt offered, when Blaine didn't say anything.

"Um..." He chewed on the inside of his cheek, trying to work out when would be best, thinking about his schedule and his parents' schedules... "Mondays?"

"Mine or yours?" Kurt asked, diary open to note down the day.

Blaine tried to ignore the obvious innuendo there, blushing a little and clearing his throat. "Um, we could alternate?" He suggested. "We can go to mine next Monday." He'd have to remember to ask his mom.

"Great! I look forward to seeing your house. You know, you've built up a great area of mystery around it now by being so enigmatic every time I ask you about it. I hope it lives up to my expectations." Kurt teased him.

"I'm sure it will. It's a magnificent house." Blaine said dryly.

"It had better be."

Considering the house had had professional interior designers working on it, it should impress Kurt.

* * *

"Hi, Mrs Anderson. Thank you for the lift." Kurt said politely, as he climbed into the backseat, smoothing down his clothes and buckling himself in.

"Hello, Kurt. And please, call me Julia." She smiled at him through the rear-view mirror, and he smiled back. It wasn't often that he met his friends' parents, so he had to admit that he was a little nervous, even though he had technically met her before. "Did you boys have a good day at school?" She asked a few moments later, eyes on the road as she navigated the build-up of traffic which was normal at this time of day.

"It was alright." Blaine told her. "We're currently learning about Spain in Geography, mom." He added, which seemed totally random but made sense a moment later.

"Oh, really?" She asked, and Kurt could hear the smile in her voice. "That's wonderful. My husband and I went to Spain for our honeymoon," she told Kurt.

Kurt nodded. "It sounds lovely." Really, it did. "I'd like to go to Paris for my honeymoon." He informed her, wistfully. God knew if he was even going to be able to get _married. _But he had the whole event planned out, just in case. There was no harm in being prepared.

"Why Paris?" She asked, sounding interested. "I mean, obviously, it's a beautiful country, but is there any particular reason why you'd like to visit it?"

Blaine glanced over his shoulder at Kurt and rolled his eyes, obviously embarrassed at his mother's questions.

Kurt thought she was absolutely wonderful.

"It's the fashion capital of the world, and the capital city of the country that the 'language of love' came from." Kurt responded, smiling. Really, it was the origin of the French language that really piqued his interest. After all, there were four fashion capitals of the world. There was only one France.

"Are you into fashion, Kurt?" Julia inquired delicately, a note of... _something_, he couldn't tell what, in her voice.

"Yes. Couldn't you tell from my fabulous outfit?" He inwardly winced after saying this, cursing himself. As if going on about fashion wasn't bad enough, now he was using the word 'fabulous'. Maybe he really was as flamboyant as a handbag full of rainbows, as Rachel had suggested.

"Mm, yes, it is nice." She assured him, sounding a little less warm than she had earlier.

Blaine twisted in his chair again and mouthed 'sorry'. Kurt shook his head at him to tell him that it was okay, but he was confused. He'd got the impression that Julia was fine with Blaine being gay. Did she just dislike feminine gays?

"Hey, mom, can I put a CD on?" Blaine asked quickly, already pulling one from the glove compartment.

Julia nodded, and then sighed quietly. "Kurt, I don't mean to be... rude. I'm just... not used to people as... flamboyant as you." She glanced at him in the rear-view mirror. "I am accepting, believe me."

Kurt hummed quietly, accepting her apology. It wasn't as if she was the worst he'd encountered. Really, she'd been very polite to him.

"Mom, Kurt knows. That I'm gay, I mean." Blaine told her, and she simply nodded.

Blaine pushed the CD into the car's radio.

There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence before the music started.

Kurt's brow furrowed the moment it did so. "... Katy Perry, Blaine? Really?"

He was pretty sure Blaine was blushing. Either way, a mutter of 'shut up' came from the passenger seat, and the volume was turned up.

So Blaine liked disco and Katy Perry.

What was that quotation about loving your friends, no matter their faults?

A few songs went by before Julia, who had been throwing Blaine concerned looks for a minute or so, asked, "Are you alright, Blaine?"

"I'm fine." He sunk a little lower in his seat, seemingly embarrassed. Kurt managed to restrain himself from feeling a surge of bitterness, though the thought 'at least he _has_ a mother to be embarrassed by' did flit through his mind.

"Are you just not in the mood for singing today?" She asked gently, a slightly teasing tone to her voice.

Kurt leant forward. "Wait, he can sing?" This was brand-new information. Hadn't Blaine claimed to be a bad singer?

"Like an absolute angel." Julia said proudly, obviously enjoying the discomfort of her son as he groaned and hid his face in his hands.

"I'll be the judge of that." Kurt leant back, folding his arms, actually a little hurt by the fact that Blaine had lied to him. And it seemed such a strange thing to lie about. Unless he was actually a terrible singer, and it was just the parental 'my child is wonderful!' thing prompting Julia to say that.

Blaine's head shot up and he turned to peer at Kurt. "You want me to sing for you?"

Kurt indicated the radio, which had just started to play a new song, and raised an eyebrow at Blaine in a silent challenge.

There was a beat of quiet before Blaine began. "_You think I'm pretty, without any make-up on. You think I'm funny, when I tell the punch-line wrong. I know you get me, so I let my walls come down, down..." _

Well, Blaine's mom had definitely been right about one thing, Kurt thought. Blaine _did_ sing like an angel. He was actually an even better singer than Finn. Although Kurt wasn't exactly going to tell Rachel that. Blaine was already a little scared of her. He'd be terrified if she was trying to enlist him to sing the male lead.

Kurt's eyes widened as he listened to Blaine sing. Okay, now he was kind of mad at himself for having made the decision to hear Blaine sing and only following through on that now. Seriously, he needed to trust his first judgements.

One thing was definite: they needed Blaine in the Glee club.

* * *

"So, you're a liar." Kurt offered casually, as he followed Blaine into his room. "Also, your room is lovely." He added, looking around it with admiration.

"Thank you." Blaine looked guilty, eyebrows drawing together as he frowned. "I... look, I'm sorry for telling you that I'm a bad singer. I guess I panicked when you asked."

"Well, now I know the truth, you have to join Glee. There's simply no other option from here." Kurt told him, well aware that there was almost no hope of this ever happening.

Blaine shifted uneasily from one foot to the other, not making eye contact with him. "Look, Kurt, I'd like to, but..." He trailed off, obviously uncomfortable and unsure of what to say.

"You don't want the rest of the school to realise that you're a flaming homosexual." Kurt filled in for him, rolling his eyes a little. So maybe Blaine was scared of coming out, but would joining Glee make it _that_ obvious? Puck, Finn, Matt, Artie and Mike were all in it, and no-one was disputing their sexuality. "Fine, well, let's get started on this project-"

"No," Blaine interrupted him. "I mean, yes, we should, and, uh, feel free to sit down." He gestured to his bed. Kurt eyed it for a moment before sitting on the edge of it. Blaine sat down next to him, twisting his hands together nervously. "I... you're right that part of the reason I don't want to join Glee is because I'm scared of that happening. But that's not the only reason." He looked straight into Kurt's eyes, biting his lip before speaking. "Look, your friends are all really cool, but I'm kind of worried that if I join, they'll all either think I'm a terrible singer, or hate me."

Kurt stared at him for a moment before snorting. Seeing the slightly hurt look on Blaine's face, he quickly held out his hand to touch Blaine's shoulder for a moment. "I'm not laughing at you. Well, maybe a little, because, Blaine... how could you think that? I mean, firstly, I said you were a good singer, which you should just take for the huge compliment it is and be grateful. And secondly, none of my friends would hate you. They all love you." He smiled. "_We_ all love you."

Blaine blushed a little, but smiled back at him. "Thank you." He paused, worrying at his bottom lip.

Kurt knew what he was going to say and spoke quickly. "You don't have to join, or at least, not straight away. But... think about it, okay?"

Blaine nodded, looking relieved.

"Now, let's work on this project."

* * *

_Coach Tenaka scheduled a practice for the same time and day as Glee. Mandatory. No exceptions. Anyone who doesn't turn up is off the team. _Kurt sent the text the moment he was released from practice, needing to share the appalling news with Blaine.

It didn't take long for the reply to come through.

_Oh no! :(_

_I'm choosing Glee, obviously, but unless all four of the other football guys choose Glee... the club is over._

_Kurt, I'm so sorry._

_So am I. _

Kurt didn't exactly intend to guilt-trip Blaine, but he was aware that the texts would probably make his friend feel guilty. Did that make him a bad person, if he was aware he was causing suffering and did nothing to alleviate it? Probably.

Either way, he was going to go and tell the football guys he was quitting football. It seemed the best thing to do was announce it in the showers, as they'd find it harder to chase him if he had a head-start and they were all naked and covered in soap.

Kurt didn't usually shower with the other guys; he tended to wait until they'd all gone. Or at least, he had done. Now he was quitting, it was kind of a relief to think that he wouldn't have to use the school's showers at all.

Much as he hated to admit it, he was going to miss football. The guys had lain off of him a little while he was on the team, which was a welcome reprieve. And in a way, he'd enjoyed it, although the highlight had definitely been the game.

Taking a deep breath and striding into the shower room, he called out, "Hello, gentlemen. As you may have already guessed, I'm choosing Glee club. I'm sure this is a huge disappointment to you, but I trust that you can find an appropriate understudy to fill in for me, hopefully before your next game. Good luck in the future!"

Outrage was the main reaction to this; yells of "You suck, Hummel!" flew at him. Discomfort was also a recurring emotion, as many boys shielded their bodies from his view. As if he'd be interested in any of them.

Although he was carefully avoiding looking at Finn.

Turning, he left with his head held high, managing to leave in time to narrowly avoid being hit by the shampoo bottle Azimio threw after him.

* * *

The sight of Finn Hudson with a slushy in his hand was setting off extreme alarm bells in Blaine's head. He hastily reached his locker, unlocked it, piled the books he was holding into it, shut it, and hurried in the direction the football player had taken, rounding the corner in time to see Kurt slushying himself.

Stopping dead in his tracks, Blaine stared down the corridor. A small smile appeared on his face as he heard Kurt's defiant words to Finn, asking him to think about whether the other football guys would do the same for him.

Blaine thought it should be pretty obvious, even to Finn, that the answer was no. No, they wouldn't. Not even Finn would take a slushy for someone, and he was meant to be one of the good guys. Kurt really was one of a kind. Blaine admired Kurt's bravery, and only wished he could be a little more like him.

He started walking again, shooting Finn a glare as he approached him. Finn ducked his head and scuttled by, and Blaine took a certain pleasure in knowing that Finn was feeling bad. He deserved to, the asshole.

Kurt was shepherded into the girls' bathroom before Blaine had the chance to say anything to him. Since he wasn't yet brave enough to try going in there, he stopped next to Artie, shaking his head a little.

"Was it because of the other football guys? They wanted revenge for Kurt quitting?" He asked the gloomy-looking boy.

Artie nodded. "He announced it in the showers, and I mean, I'd never say that someone was _asking_ for a slushy, but..." He trailed off, the end of the sentence clear.

Blaine stared at the door to the girls' bathroom, and smiled a little. "He's not asking for a slushy. Just for the respect he deserves."

"Preach." Artie agreed. "Uh, could you push me to my next lesson, please?" He added.

"Sure, of course." Blaine acquiesced with a smile, glad to be of help. It was actually nice to know Artie trusted him enough to ask for that.

* * *

_Pick up, pick up, pick up_...

"Hey, Kurt. Are you okay?" Blaine asked with concern, finally ceasing to pace around his bedroom as he had been while waiting for Kurt to pick up. His dad had already yelled at him to 'stop whatever the fuck it is you're doing up there!'

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" The overly-bright tone had Blaine rolling his eyes as he sank down onto his bed, unable to help the relief that washed over him. At least Kurt wasn't crying.

"Because you took a slushy to the face today?" Blaine offered quietly. There was silence on the other end of the phone for a few moments.

"I guess you heard, huh?" Kurt finally responded.

"I saw, actually. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Finn plus slushy equals bad, so I followed him."

"He doesn't try to be a bad guy."

"He's just a natural at it?" Blaine questioned, a little bitterly. It hurt, if he was honest, to hear Kurt defending someone who'd been willing to slush Kurt just to defend their reputation.

Blaine was sick of everyone's obsession with reputations. Including his own obsession.

"The football guys said they'd beat him up. And he obviously really, really didn't want to do it."

"Yeah, sure."

He wasn't trying to be sarcastic, but Kurt obviously took it that way, because his tone got really defensive. "Blaine, Finn is my friend, and-"

"I'm not- Kurt, I'm not attacking _your_ actions. I thought that was really awesome of you, and I was actually really proud. Is that weird? Can I be proud of you?"

Kurt snorted. "Of course you can, you creepy weirdo." He was smiling, though, Blaine could hear it in his voice.

"Good." Blaine let himself grin. "Because that speech you gave was really awesome, as well. I think you might've gotten through to him."

"I hope so. Someone needs to, and his girlfriend certainly isn't trying hard enough." Kurt sounded, as ever, both jealous and disparaging when he spoke of Quinn.

"Yeah, well, she has her own reputation to think about." Blaine pointed out, finding that he actually sympathised with the Cheerio. For one, it couldn't be easy being pregnant, and for two, it was in both he and Quinn's best interests if Kurt was kept away from Finn. Although, the latter fact was for entirely different reasons. She wanted Finn to remain her boyfriend, whereas he just wanted Kurt to remain safe.

_Yeah, right. Keep telling yourself that, Blaine_.

Kurt hummed an acknowledgement, jolting Blaine from his thoughts. "I suppose so. I really hope Finn comes back to Glee, though."

"Yeah, me too. I just know you guys are going to do great at Sectionals," Blaine told him brightly, trying to be optimistic.

"Of course we will." Kurt responded, sounding offended that Blaine would ever suggest otherwise.

Blaine smiled. "I know. I'll be there to cheer you on, you can count on it."

Kurt's voice sounded softer when he said, "I'm glad you will." They were both quiet for a moment, comfortable in the silence.

Blaine tried to ignore the niggling voice in his mind which was suggesting that maybe, just maybe, they'd do even better at Sectionals if he were in the club, too.


	9. Chapter 9: Defying Gravity

**A/N: This episode makes me overly emotional. Sue and Jean, Quinn and Puck, Kurt and Burt...**

**It's late again, I know, sorry. I'm probably gonna have to say I'll update at the weekend (usually Saturday, unless I have a lot of work). College takes a lot out of me. (only 6 months to go and I'm free!)**

**Disclaimer: Some nights I stay up, wishing that I owned Glee, 'cause I'd write it better than Murphy. (I like to think I'm funny)**

**Chapter Nine: Defying Gravity.**

It was lunchtime, and the five friends were in a heated discussion about movies. This sort of argument happened a lot, Blaine mused. They were all very passionate people. It must be because they were performers.

"Hairspray is a good film, but personally, I'm not a huge fan of musicals." Artie admitted to the others, shrugging as they all gasped in shock. "Give me Star Wars any day."

Kurt looked like Artie had just committed blasphemy.

"You'd get along well with my brother." Blaine told Artie, the hint of a smile on his face. "He loves sci-fi." He couldn't count the number of times Cooper had made Blaine watch Transformers with him.

"You have a b-brother?" Tina asked, glancing up at him with curiosity.

"Yes. There's quite a large age gap between us, so we're not that close." Blaine shrugged.

"What's his name?" Mercedes asked, with interest.

"Cooper." It was a relief that his mother's prophecy that 'soon, everyone will know who Cooper is!' hadn't yet come true. He didn't think he could handle his friends gushing over his 'celebrity' big brother. "But for the record, sci-fi movies are just as good as musicals." He added as a subject change, looking at Artie.

Tina wrinkled up her nose. "I prefer horror m-movies."

"I'm not such a fan of them. Especially the gore." Blaine shuddered a little. He'd prefer a good rom-com or a musical any day.

Artie instantly argued that sci-fi was better than horror, and Blaine glanced at Kurt, who was staring down at his food. "Hey, you okay? You're being unusually quiet." He asked in a hushed voice, though the debate raging about what the best genre of movie meant that none of them would've heard what he was saying anyway.

Kurt didn't respond for a few moments, before finally looking up at him. "I suppose. It's just..." He shook his head. "Mr Schue's decided we're doing Defying Gravity for Sectionals. But because it's a 'girl's song', Rachel's singing it."

Blaine was quiet for a moment. "Well, maybe you should tell Mr Schuester, and ask him if you could sing it?"He suggested. "Don't just give in. I can see this is really getting you down."

Kurt gave him a doubtful look. "You think he'd listen to me?"

"Where's the harm in trying?" Blaine pointed out, before his eyes flickered over to Mercedes, who had been watching them talk – she was apparently less interested in movies than the rest of them.

"I agree with Blaine, Kurt." Mercedes told him, leaning in a little and giving Blaine a quick smile.

The pleased look on Kurt's face convinced Blaine that he'd said the right thing, and he grinned, taking a forkful of his lunch.

"Sorry I'm late, everyone. I was busy practising for my big solo." Rachel announced loudly as she reached their table.

Kurt's expression went blank, and he stood as she sat down. "I have to go pee." He stated, fleeing.

Blaine sighed and dropped his fork on his plate, giving Rachel a disapproving look which she didn't see.

* * *

_He said no. _Kurt sent the text to Blaine almost the moment he left Glee, expression bitter as he waved goodbye to Mercedes, who gave him a sympathetic smile.

_Oh, Kurt! I'm sorry. :(_

He grimaced down at the response, before typing out a reply: _It was only to be expected. At least I tried._

It was the truth. Mr Schuester didn't actually care about any of them. His only focus was Rachel, and Finn to a certain extent. The rest of them were just background singers, white noise. The only reason he'd care if they dropped out was the fact that they wouldn't have enough people to compete.

The reply came only seconds later: _It's really unfair. You're a much better singer than her. (but don't tell her I said that)_

This actually made him smile. Blaine's unerring support and loyalty was something everyone should hope for in a friend. _You are the only person who truly appreciates my talent, Blaine. Thank you. :)_

_That's because I'm awesome, and don't mention it! :) But seriously, you have to fight her for that solo, Kurt._

Kurt raised an eyebrow. _Don't you think I'll get expelled if I seriously injure her? _He typed quickly, knowing that he wasn't actually vicious enough to physically fight her. But he recognised the truth in Blaine's words; he couldn't let Mr Schue stop him from achieving his dream out of some stupid prejudice. He had to make a stand and at least _try_.

_You know what I meant. And, she did seem a little uncomfortable about it, to be honest. _

Kurt frowned down at his phone, acknowledging the fact that Rachel had been unusually quiet and silent when Mr Schue had unfairly denied Kurt the chance to sing the solo. _But not uncomfortable enough to tell Mr Schue that he's being totally unfair?_

_Rachel... has a vested interest in herself, and she really likes the spotlight_. Was Blaine's diplomatic response.

_You mean she's a selfish bitch? _Kurt sent back, not in the mood for diplomacy.

_Aren't we all a little selfish? We all have something we would do anything for._

Kurt snorted, almost laughing at the idea of Blaine being selfish. _Are you kidding? You're the most selfless person I've ever met._

_We all have something we would do anything for._ Blaine repeated.

Kurt frowned at this rather cryptic answer, before sighing as he reached his house. He didn't have time to ask right now. He had a lot of work to do. _Well, right now, I want to make some warm milk and do my homework. I'll talk to you later._ He sent, before opening the door, heading straight to the fridge to grab some milk.

_You *want* to do your homework, Kurt?_

_What can I say? Algebra is fun._ Kurt responded, lips twitching into a smile of amusement.

_If you say so. I'll leave you to it, then! :)_

Kurt smiled and turned his phone off.

* * *

"I'm going to guess that this is a Glee club exercise, and that the stage didn't collapse under the combined weight of the entire Glee club and paralyse you all?" Blaine asked dryly, walking over to Kurt and eyeing him – and the wheelchair he was sitting in – with amusement. He'd already seen Santana and Brittany. It was amusing to see the Cheerios in wheelchairs. He wondered how they'd perform their routines: maybe they'd be allowed out of their chairs for long enough to practise. He had a sneaking suspicion that Sylvester would kick them off the Cheerios, if they didn't.

"Shut up, put these books in my locker, and get out my Geography book." Kurt instructed him firmly, not looking like he was finding this situation the least bit funny.

Blaine did as he was told, smiling slightly and shaking his head, still amused.

"Thank you." Kurt said with an attempt at dignity, turning his wheelchair around with difficulty.

"So, what is this in aid of?" Blaine wondered aloud, grabbing the handles to push Kurt towards English.

Kurt relinquished control with a grateful "Thank you," then groaned. "Artie needs the special bus, and he's really hurt that nobody cares enough to try and raise money for him, so Mr Schue's doing this as a team-building exercise. He's shocked at our lack of team spirit. After all, we're all in this together." Kurt's voice was measured, steady, but Blaine could hear the anger and hurt in it.

"That's... a little hypocritical." Blaine responded carefully, not wanting to set Kurt off, since he was obviously upset enough already. He was beginning to wonder if he should go and yell at Mr Schuester, since everyone else seemed to think that he was some perfect, inspiring teacher who cared about his kids and who everyone should love. Well, maybe that was a little unfair. He obviously did care about the Glee kids. He just... didn't care so much about who wanted to sing what song, and cared most about Rachel's singing career, despite the fact that a lot of the others would love to go into performing.

"I'm pretty sure 'hypocritical' is his middle name." Kurt muttered, and they both lapsed into silence for a few moments, Blaine considering the fact that some teachers were treated as if they were much better than they actually were.

Actually... "So, you don't have a singing assignment?" Blaine asked, grinning at the thought that had just entered his head.

He could tell that Kurt was frowning. "No, why?"

"I was looking forward to you singing We're All In This Together. You'd be the perfect Ryan." Blaine responded, and was pleased to hear Kurt laughing.

"I'm pretty sure the guys would all quit in protest if Mr Schue tried to force them to do High School Musical." Kurt told him, with what sounded a little like wistfulness. Although he was probably wishing that they could do more musicals, not wishing specifically for High School Musical.

Blaine didn't know where they came from, but the words "Speaking of quitting, how's Finn doing?" shot from his mouth before he could think about it, and he instantly winced a little, feeling bad but not quite wanting to apologise.

Sure, Finn had re-joined the Glee club, but he hadn't apologised to Kurt, and he was still an asshole for having chosen the football team over Glee anyway. Blaine really didn't understand why Kurt liked him. How could you like a person who'd bullied you and was too much of a coward to say 'no' when their friends asked them to hurt you? He was almost glad that Finn was straight and that Kurt therefore had no chance with him. Kurt deserved someone better, someone who loved him, and someone who was proud of who he was.

Which sort of took him out of the running, he mused bitterly, before reminding himself that he wasn't in the running in the first place, and didn't want to be. Kurt was his friend.

Kurt twisted around in his wheelchair to frown at Blaine, then turned back as they entered the classroom, the conversation pausing as Blaine wheeled him up to the table before taking the seat next to him. Kurt shot Blaine a narrowed-eyed look, and then shrugged. "Not good. I think Quinn's on his case," he added, in an undertone, since the rest of their class was now filing in.

"I guess she needs more support than he's been giving her." Blaine felt bad for the Cheerio. She looked so stressed out all the time and he could see why. She was hiding her pregnancy from her parents, her peers, and her teachers, as well as keeping a good GPA, keeping her place as head cheerleader, _and_ being part of Glee club. He felt a lot of sympathy for her, as well as some admiration. Seriously, most people would have cracked under the pressure already.

"It's hard for him too, you know." Kurt told him, still frowning a little.

Blaine supposed what he'd said had been a little snappy, but couldn't help but mutter "Then maybe he shouldn't have gotten her knocked up" under his breath.

Kurt frowned at him. "Is something up, Blaine?

He let out a long breath. Truthfully, he didn't know why he'd said that. All he knew was that Kurt talking about Finn made him feel like punching something, and he really didn't know why.

But you were the one who brought Finn up in the first place! He reminded himself, before shaking his head a little. "No. I'm sorry. Let's just do this project, okay?"

Kurt stared at him for a few moments, before nodding.

Blaine pulled Wuthering Heights towards him and began flicking through it.

A little voice in his head said that he knew _exactly_ why he didn't like Kurt talking about Finn.

Blaine ignored it.

* * *

Kurt bounded down the stairs to his room, pulling out his phone to text Blaine, still bouncing with excitement. _I told my dad about the Defying Gravity thing, and he went in and yelled at them. So I guess now I have a diva-off with Rachel next Thursday. :)_

The reply came quickly. _That's so great! I know you'll win, but good luck, anyway._

_I only hope I can hit the high F._

_That's within your range, right? That's incredible, Kurt!_

Kurt smiled, happiness bubbling over inside him. The rest of the club had laughed when he'd said he could hit the high F, but Blaine was impressed. As he should be, of course.

_Thank you._

_Don't mention it._

* * *

"I need a coffee." Kurt told Blaine out of the blue. "An actual coffee. Good coffee."

Blaine blinked at him a few times, taking this in. Thinking about it, he'd love some coffee, too. "Well, uh, there's a place called the Lima Bean – you might have heard of it? – not too far from here. So if you really need a coffee..."

"I'd love to, but... what about your mom? Isn't she picking you up?" Kurt asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, no, she has to work late tonight, and she's going to be working late every Wednesday from now on. I figured I'd just go to the Library and work for a while, but if you want to go get coffee instead..." Blaine offered, with a shrug. He didn't really mind being left at school for a while. Studying was good.

Kurt smiled. "You had me at 'Lima Bean'."

Blaine grinned, managing to avoid jumping up and down with excitement. "Brilliant."

They ended up taking a bus to the Lima Bean, which neither of them enjoyed ("Public transport, Blaine! People pee on these seats! They pee!") but it was worth it once they got there.

The pair sat near the window, facing each other and sipping at their respective coffees. Blaine had tried to insist on paying for them both, but Kurt wouldn't let him. And he supposed it might look a little, well, _gay_ if he did pay for them both. Although it wasn't as if anyone that either of them knew was in here.

"Ah, coffee." Kurt exhaled after sipping at it, looking a lot more relaxed than usual.

Blaine couldn't help but smile back. It was really good to see Kurt relieved from the tensions of school. Though the bullying had decreased a little, Kurt still faced the occasional Dumpster toss, locker shoves, and sporadic slushies. And then, of course, there was the verbal bullying. Kurt was usually able to stand his ground with verbal bullying, though. His preferred weapon of choice was to launch into a French diatribe, which Blaine could never keep up with.

"So, haven't you ever learnt to drive?" Kurt asked Blaine suddenly.

"Uh, well, I have, but mom works kinda near here anyway, and it makes sense for her to bring me. So they haven't bought me a car yet. They might be getting me on for my 17th." Blaine explained. He was pretty sure that driving to school would be dangerous anyway. It took a while for him to fully wake up in the morning – as it did for every teenager, except Rachel Berry – so he had valid concerns about driving so early.

"What does your mom work as, anyway?" Kurt asked.

"She's a preschool teacher." Blaine told him. "She really likes little children. So she kind of lost interest in me once I hit 7." He joked, just to see Kurt laugh.

"I see. So, driving you to school and home again, being really interested in your life... it's all because she hates you?" Kurt asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

Blaine took a sip of his coffee before nodding, mock-pouting. "I think she's going to make sure the preschool inherits all her money. She's going to leave me totally destitute." He teased.

Kurt rolled his eyes at him.

Finishing his coffee, Blaine laughed, a little self-consciously. Talking about money with Kurt still made him feel a little bad. It wasn't as if he _pitied_ him, of course not, he just didn't like mentioning money while knowing that his family was quite a lot richer than Kurt's, even if they couldn't exactly be described as wealthy.

"So, are you nervous about the diva-off next Thursday?" Blaine asked, more to change the subject than anything.

"A little." Kurt confessed. "I know that most of the people in Glee club prefer me to Berry, but it's still a big thing, you know?"

"I would come and support you, but I doubt Mr Schuester would let me." Blaine told him, shrugging a shoulder.

"I don't think he'd mind, if you asked. He'd probably beg you to join the club." Kurt smiled at him, eyes bright.

Blaine felt warm as a smile spread across his face, because Kurt _wanted_ him to be in there to see him compete and to support him. "Well, I'll ask him, then." Though if Mr Schuester did ask him to join the club, he'd have to turn him down.

Kurt nodded, looking content with this. "Okay."

Blaine beamed at him, absurdly pleased with himself. "Oh, hey, it's Christmas soon, so... is there anything you want?"

"You don't have to get me anything, Blaine." Kurt told him sternly, though he was smiling.

Blaine shook his head. "I'm getting you something, Kurt. You're my best friend."

"Well, then, a movie you think I'd like, or something?" Kurt smiled.

"Great!" Blaine was already thinking over ideas, trying to remember which movies he knew Kurt had seen already.

Kurt eyed him for a moment, probably doubting his sanity. Blaine was beginning to doubt his own sanity. "So, what do you want?"

"Oh, you don't have to get me anything." Blaine assured him.

Kurt raised an eyebrow at him. "Christmas is the time of giving, Blaine, not just the time of receiving."

Blaine's mind jumped straight into the gutter and he tried to stop himself from giggling like an idiot, with limited success. "Uh, okay." He said hastily, realising that Kurt was giving him a confused look, and was opening his mouth to ask what the hell Blaine was on. "Well, it's Christmas, it's gonna be cold, you're brilliant with fashion, so you could buy me a hat and scarf that you think would suit me?" He suggested. As an afterthought, he added, "And some gloves?"

A thoughtful look appeared on Kurt's face, and Blaine could tell that he was already thinking about what to buy him.

Blaine's phone buzzed and he pulled it out, quickly reading the text from his mom saying _I'm here!_ "Mom's here." He told Kurt, sliding out of his seat. "We should do this again sometime." He added, with a smile.

Kurt nodded in agreement, before standing up to walk him to his car. Blaine smiled at him as they both headed outside.

Mrs Anderson wound down the passenger side window and beamed at them both. "Hi, Kurt! It's nice to see you. Blaine's told me all about this singing competition. Good luck!"

Kurt beamed, shooting a smirk at Blaine. "Thank you, Mrs Anderson!"

"Call me Julia, Kurt. C'mon, baby, home time." She added to Blaine.

Blaine got into the car with an embarrassed mutter of "Mom, really." Shaking his head, he waved to Kurt. "Bye, Kurt, see you tomorrow!"

Kurt waved as he left, still smirking.

It struck Blaine, about half an hour later, that he'd left Kurt to take the bus back home by himself, and he inwardly smacked himself.

_Were you okay taking the bus by yourself? Sorry for leaving you. :(_

_I was okay! And it's fine. :)_

* * *

Mr Schue was very enthusiastic when Blaine asked if he could sit in for the diva-off. Blaine was pretty sure the phrase "if you enjoy it, you should definitely think about joining!" had never been said with such gusto. The teacher was nothing if not enthusiastic.

On walking into the choir room, he was unsure of where to sit, but Mercedes grabbed his arm and dragged him to sit next to her.

Kurt had told him, excitedly and in an extremely high-pitched voice, when he'd managed to hit the high F. And so Blaine knew that he would win. There was no way he couldn't win, after all.

... or at least, that's what Blaine thought.

"Why did you do it?" Blaine asked later, as the two of them walked away from the choir room, everyone having given Kurt sympathetic smiles or pats.

Kurt shot him a sharp look. "Do what?"

"Blew the note. I know you did it on purpose." Blaine told him, not bothering to sugar coat the accusation.

Kurt bit his lip, before sighing and nodding slightly. "I did. I-" He glanced around, checking that they were alone, before looking back at Blaine and stopping dead in the hallway.

Blaine stopped too, unsure why Kurt looked so worried.

"Dad got a phone call the other day. Someone telling him that I'm a fag." Kurt shook his head. "I can't- I _won't_- let Dad get harassed because I'm too proud to at least try keeping my head down."

Blaine opened his mouth to argue, before closing it with a half-smile. It wasn't as if he could call Kurt out on that. He understood all too well the need to keep your head down. "You would've been perfect, for the record." He offered, hoping it was some small consolation.

Kurt smiled sadly at him. "Thank you."

Blaine began walking again, and Kurt followed him after a moment. "Do you think it'll get better?" He asked, glancing at the taller boy.

"Well, everyone says it does." Kurt shrugged. "I don't know. All I know right know is that I need to concentrate on getting through high school without getting hospitalised."

Blaine flinched, but thankfully Kurt wasn't looking at him. "Yeah – yeah, that'd be preferable." He said, after a few seconds, voice a little shaky.

Kurt shot him a look. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine." Blaine smiled widely at him. "There's mom, bye!" He hurried quickly off, feeling Kurt's eyes on him.

It was still too soon to even consider telling Kurt the full extent of what he'd been through at Westerville.

Maybe one day, but not yet. Not now. Not when the scars, both physical and mental, were still so plain.

* * *

To be honest, Blaine found Tina a little intimidating. But she was leaning against the lockers with her arms folded, looking like the world had just ended, and he couldn't help but walk over to her and smile friendlily. "Hey, Tina, are you okay?" He asked, head tilted a little with concern.

She wrinkled up her nose, and shook her head. "I made a stupid mistake, and now Artie hates me." She shrugged, then turned her head to look at him.

"I... what did you do?" The two were best friends, he'd thought, and hadn't they been going on a date or something? ... Maybe it was something to do with that.

"I was faking my stutter." Tina admitted quietly. He frowned at her a little, confused. "He's angry, because I was faking my disability, but he has to live with his." She explained, looking miserable and guilty.

"Why did you fake it?" Blaine asked gently. Not judging her, just wanting to know her reasoning.

"I was really, really shy in sixth grade. I realised that faking a stutter stopped people talking to me. So... I kept pretending, and it made my life easier." The corner of her mouth twitched. "I guess it's ironic that it's now kind of ruined my life."

"It hasn't ruined your life. Sure, Artie may be angry at you now, but he'll get over it." Blaine reassured her. "After all, it's not as if you were faking it to get attention or anything." He added. Shyness was a valid reason, in his opinion. After all, he had a similar reason for not coming out, and he doubted anyone would hate him for _not_ telling them. So it wasn't as if he could judge her.

He could see why Artie was mad. But all friends argued – look at the row he and Kurt had nearly had a few weeks ago. It would blow over in the end.

She smiled a little, before shaking her head. "How are you so _nice_ all the time? Isn't it a huge effort?"

Blaine nearly smiled at her tone, but managed to restrain himself. He didn't want her to think he was laughing at her. "I'm not always nice, believe me. I guess I just really empathise with you." He leant against the lockers next to her.

Tina shot him a curious look. "Empathise? You mean, there's something you've been faking?" She sounded a little brighter, now that they were discussing him instead of her.

"Sort of." He glanced down at the floor, unable to look at her.

"I wouldn't tell anyone, you know." Tina said earnestly.

Blaine looked up at her, and the friendliness in her eyes convinced him. Maybe he didn't know her as well as he knew Kurt, but he did know that she would be accepting and supportive, so it felt almost as natural to consider telling her the truth. And she had just told him something huge about herself. He let out a short breath and then shrugged a little. "I'm... I'm gay, Tina." His insides twisted a little, even though it was totally irrational to feel scared, then loosened at the look on her face.

"I guess we both need to learn how to come out of our shells." Tina smiled a little. "Thank you, though. For telling me, and for cheering me up." She reached out and squeezed his hand. "Don't worry, I won't tell anybody." She promised.

He squeezed her hand in return, and felt accepted.


	10. Chapter 10: Crush

**A/N: Hi, sorry this is late, I've been struggling with this chapter for some reason. I hope you enjoy it, anyway!**

**Disclaimer: Do I own Glee? It's all coming back to me now... no, I don't own it.**

**Chapter Ten: Crush.**

"This is so _boring_." Kurt moaned, dropping his notebook and lying back on Blaine's bed, arm draped over his eyes. The very picture of someone who was tired of working on a school project.

Blaine glanced up at him from where he was sitting at the end of his bed, legs swinging slightly. "You can't be bored of it until we've finished." He told Kurt, in good humour.

"How are you so chipper? Are you never in a bad mood?" Kurt asked grumpily, obviously fed-up.

"I actually like English, so I don't mind." Blaine told him. Well, that and he enjoyed spending time with Kurt so much that he would've endured hours of Algebra, which he hated, and he still would've felt optimistic and happy.

Kurt groaned. "If I never see another book again, it'll be too soon. I'm giving up reading forever." He vowed dramatically.

Blaine couldn't help but laugh, before handing Kurt his notebook. "Here, we'll swap and read through each other's work." He told him, wanting to give his friend a break.

"Ugh." Kurt groaned again, giving Blaine the pages he'd been working on.

"The good news is, I think we're nearly done." Blaine told him, hoping some good news would switch the mood up from 'half-dead exhaustion'. "That's the section on the Gothic elements done, anyway, so we only need to finish up the section on love." Blaine read through the sheet they'd been given, mentally checking off everything on the list, and feeling quite proud of their efforts.

Kurt perked up a little, moving his hand from in front of his face. "Really? Thank God. If I have to listen to Cathy whine on about how hard her life is one more time, I might go crazy."

Blaine gave him a sympathetic look, before glancing at the clock and sighing slightly. "It's 8PM; you need to get home soon. C'mon, ten more minutes and then we can go and eat the cookies that mom made, and then we'll get you home."

"Oh, thank God, the smell of delicious, warm chocolate chip cookies has been driving me crazy for the last half an hour." Kurt had sat up and was staring at the door with what looked like desperation in his eyes.

Blaine laughed and patted Kurt's foot, before crossing his legs and reading through the pages, while Kurt did the same next to him.

It was funny, he mused. His mom didn't often make cookies. She was usually too busy planning lessons for her school kids. But he guessed she wanted to make a good impression on Kurt, or something. Or maybe she was just in a really good mood.

Ten minutes later, he looked up and nodded. "It looks great. Although you did write 'cookies' where I _think_ you meant to write 'Catherine'." He added, with a smirk. They'd had pizza earlier, but that had been a while ago, and the scent of cookies was enough to drive anyone to distraction.

Kurt snatched his paper back, looking embarrassed, grabbing his pen and adjusting the word. "There. And it's totally your fault for depriving me of cookies. Let's go eat cookies!"

Blaine laughed and uncrossed his legs, getting up. He couldn't help but marvel at how easy Kurt was with him now. When they'd first met, Kurt had been so much more guarded. But over time, he'd let his shields down. And Blaine was really glad he had. "C'mon, then." He grabbed Kurt's hand and pulled him up from the bed, trotting downstairs with him. "Hi, mom!" He chirped as they reached the kitchen, letting go of Kurt's hand so he could grab himself a cookie, and leaning against the counter while he ate it.

Kurt took one, too, at Blaine's mom's encouraging smile. After taking a bit and politely swallowing, he smiled at her. "These are really good. Thank you."

"Mom makes great cookies." Blaine nodded, and she smiled at them both in thanks. "Hey, mom, can you take Kurt home in a minute?"

"Sure, baby. I'll just go find my keys." She moved, heading into the lounge to look for them. Her main talent in life was losing her car keys. It was a wonder Blaine wasn't late for school. It was actually a wonder that they ever managed to leave the house. She really needed to keep them in one place.

"Thanks, Julia." Kurt called after her. It had taken him a while, but he was at least comfortable enough to address her by her first name now.

Blaine finished his cookie and then grinned at Kurt. "I'll sort out the project tonight. It should only take one more session to finish it."

Kurt nodded. "Yeah, I think we're nearly done. Ours is going to be the best in the class." He added with confidence.

"Obviously." Blaine smiled at him. He was quite confident, too. English was one of his strengths.

"Ready to go, boys?" His mom asked, coming back in with her keys.

"Yup!" Blaine chirped, glancing Kurt over to check he had everything. Although it was he who'd nearly forgotten his shoes last time he'd been to Kurt's. But they weren't mentioning that incident.

Once they were in the car, Blaine glanced back at Kurt as he remembered something. "Hey, aren't you performing your ballad to Finn tomorrow?"

"Yes, why?" Kurt asked warily, probably guessing what was on Blaine's mind.

"Do you wanna practise now? I think we have Olivia Newton-John somewhere in the car. Mom really likes her." Blaine opened the glove compartment, rummaging around and making a face of disgust at the amount of sweet wrappers mixed in with the CDs. "Found it!" He announced triumphantly, shoving the CD in and turning to grin at Kurt, who was giving him a resigned look. Well, it was only fair if Kurt had to sing in front of Blaine's mom, too. Maybe she'd be so impressed by his talent that she'd decide that Blaine sucked at singing and stop embarrassing him in front of his friends.

"Oh, so you're a singer too, Kurt?" His mom asked politely, though there was a small frown furrowing her brows. Blaine figured it was from what he'd said about the song being for Finn, and inwardly smacked himself. He was trying to get her to warm to Kurt, not to dislike him.

"Yes, I'm in Glee club. Our assignment is to sing a song to our partners." Kurt told her. The frown didn't go away. The word 'partners' probably hadn't helped.

"Yeah, Finn sang one for his girlfriend." Blaine added, seizing on the moment to try and gain his mom's approval of Kurt.

Her expression cleared. "Oh! Well, that's lovely. Blaine, maybe you should join this club." She added, with a smile, clearly trying to embarrass him.

Blaine shrugged, uncomfortable with the topic, and muttered something incoherently. The song started playing before she could tell him off for being rude, and he settled back in his chair to listen to Kurt sing.

Kurt took a deep breath and began. "_Maybe I hang around here, a little more than I should_."

He'd always loved Kurt's voice, ever since he'd first persuaded the countertenor to sing for him to practise for the Invitationals. Which had been fantastic, of course. And ever since then, he'd kind of been addicted to Kurt's voice. His versions were always better than the originals, in Blaine's opinion.

Seeing him perform a solo in front of the club had been awe-inspiring. If Kurt hadn't blown the note, he would've won by a mile, Blaine had no doubt.

There was just something about Kurt's voice. He always put so much emotion into what he was singing.

If only the song he was currently singing wasn't for Finn. It just wasn't good for Kurt to be in love with someone who couldn't return his feelings.

"_But this feeling doesn't come along every day_." Kurt sang, the emotion clear in his voice, and Blaine's heart twisted in his chest.

It was then that the realisation hit him: This wasn't how most people felt when their best friend was in love. Even if they knew their friend had no chance with their love, they didn't feel like this.

They didn't feel _jealous_. Unhappy for their friend, yes, protective, yes, jealous, no.

He liked Kurt.

Blaine blinked several times, letting this sink in.

Honestly, he felt sick.

You weren't _supposed_ to crush on your best friend, especially when they were in love with someone else and they were the only person you could talk to about everything and they meant more to you than anyone else and losing them would be awful and, oh God, this was terrible.

Kurt finished his song, putting so much emotion into the words "_I honestly love you_" that Blaine wanted to find Finn and yell at him for not realising how obvious Kurt was. And ask him how he could not want the beautiful boy who was standing right in front of him. Even if he was straight, surely he could see that Kurt was utterly perfect?

Oh, crap, his mom and Kurt were waiting for a reaction from him about Kurt's song. He shook himself a little, feeling like an idiot. "Uh, that was great." He managed, and saw, in the rear-view mirror, Kurt's smile slip.

"Is it for any particular person, Kurt?" Blaine's mom asked, after shooting Blaine a frown.

"Finn." Kurt told her, a little coldly.

She 'hmm'ed in response.

The rest of the ride took place in an awkward silence. Blaine's mom was obviously even more uncomfortable with Kurt's 'gayness' than she was with Blaine's, and Blaine was still reeling from his realisation.

Once they'd dropped Kurt off, his mom berated him for being rude and unsocial. He couldn't very well tell her the truth, so he told her he was feeling ill, and stared out of the window for the rest of the journey.

How did he always manage to ruin everything good in his life?

* * *

"So, how did it go with Finn and Quinn?" Blaine asked of the group at large. It was lunchtime, the day after Kurt was supposed to be singing his ballad to Finn. He hadn't had the chance to ask Kurt how that'd gone, yet. Well, actually he hadn't given himself the chance to ask Kurt. In all honesty, he'd actually sort of been avoiding Kurt. It was childish, but he just couldn't face talking to him right now. Not now he'd realised that he'd managed to develop a huge crush on him.

But he could at least ask how the ballad to the couple had gone. They'd been planning to do that after each of them had finished singing their separate ballads.

Artie and Tina both grimaced at the question, and Mercedes shook her head. Kurt glanced at him, but Blaine managed to ignore the questioning expression on his face. Rachel was conspicuously absent.

"Well, the ballad went well, and they seemed to like it. But..." Mercedes told him. She leant in a little, lowering her voice to avoid anyone outside of their group hearing. "Her parents found out, and her dad kicked her out. She's staying at Finn's."

Blaine winced. "Oh, that's awful." He couldn't imagine how awful it would be to actually be thrown out of the house. Though he was pretty sure his dad had come close to throwing him out before, he'd never actually done so.

"And guess what I found out?" She added, glancing around the rest of the group, and leaning in further, indicating that they should as well. They all leant in, curious. "Finn's not the baby daddy." She whispered, and they all gasped.

"No way." Kurt breathed, shocked. "Who, then?"

"Puck." Mercedes revealed.

Weren't Finn and Puck best friends? How could someone do that to their best friend? Blaine wondered, shocked.

Then again, Brad had been his best friend.

He pushed that thought away and focussed on the here and now.

Tina shook her head. "Isn't she supposed to be the President of the Celibacy Club?"

Kurt had a thoughtful look on his face. "What's Finn going to think?"

Mercedes held her finger up. "No. We're not telling Finn. Quinn's chosen him to be the baby's father, and we have to respect that."

Kurt sank back into his chair, looking sulky. Blaine wanted to give him a sympathetic smile, but instead stared down at his food, pushing his pasta around his plate.

"So we can't tell Rachel, then." Artie murmured, and Mercedes laughed, maybe a little cruelly. But it was true enough, Blaine supposed. Rachel would do anything to get Finn single so she could have him to herself.

"What about Santana and Brittany?" Kurt asked. "They deserve to know. They're Quinn's friends. And they can help make sure that Rachel and Finn don't find out."

Tina nodded in agreement with him. "They may be gossipy, but I don't think they'd gossip about this."

"Okay, but no-one else can know. Agreed?" Mercedes waited until they'd all nodded, then sighed. "This baby drama is getting ridiculous. I only hope nothing else happens to make all this worse."

Blaine couldn't help but agree with her.

"How did Quinn's parents find out, anyway?" Artie asked, frowning. They all looked at Kurt, on the presumption that he'd know since he'd been spending so much time with Finn.

"I... urged Finn to tell them." Kurt admitted. At the looks on their faces, he defended himself quickly. "He'd already decided to, I just gave him the courage to do it."

"So he just... told them?" Tina looked a little impressed.

"He sang to Quinn. You're Having My Baby. The Fabrays didn't take it very well." Kurt said, which was probably the biggest understatement of the century.

"I think I speak for everyone at this table when I ask you never to give straight guys relationship advice ever again." Artie told Kurt solemnly, and they all erupted into laughter, even Kurt.

* * *

The next day, Blaine was still avoiding Kurt. And when he did spend time with Kurt, he was acting really off. He was certain that Kurt had noticed. Tina definitely had. She'd asked him, with concern, if he and Kurt had had a fight. When he'd brushed it off, he may have snapped a little more than he should have, and she'd looked kind of hurt.

Just another person to apologise to.

When he walked into the cafeteria at lunchtime, the usual gang were all sitting together, but Rachel was sitting alone. And she looked pretty upset.

This was turning into something of a habit, Blaine mused, walking over to her. Well, Rachel looking upset wasn't a habit, as such, though it did occur rather regularly. But talking to unhappy-looking girls seemed to be turning into a habit. Maybe he should try fixing his own problems, instead of worrying about everyone else's.

"Hey, Rachel." He greeted her, sitting down next to her, a little wary. Though, in all honesty, this seemed like she was genuinely upset, rather than being overdramatic about some tiny thing. "Are you okay?"

She didn't answer for a few moments, then: "I'm an _idiot_." She snuck a glance at him.

"No, you're not." He assured her. "What happened?"

"I chased after Mr Schuester like a love-struck fool. And I'm just so _embarrassed_. He hates me now, his wife hates me, and I'm just a complete idiot." She explained in a rush, eyes welling up.

Blaine was stunned for a moment – did the drama ever stop at this school? – but reached out and touched her shoulder. "Hey, hey. It's gonna be okay. Mr Schuester won't hate you. I mean, he's probably been through that before, right? It'll be fine. And why would you care what his wife thinks of you? You're never going to see her again, most probably, and her opinion shouldn't matter to you."

Rachel blinked at him, only looking a tiny bit reassured.

"What's really upset you about this?" So maybe he didn't know her very well, but he knew that Rachel's boundless optimism meant that she'd be of the firm belief that baking some cookies would get the teacher to forgive her. She'd done it before, after all, and bounced back superbly even after being yelled at from several directions.

"I'm never gonna find love." She shook her head, looking back down at the table.

That was so ridiculous he wanted to laugh. "Rachel, you're by no means unlovable, okay? So don't think that. The right guy is out there, somewhere. And when you find him, he's going to love everything about you. And he'll think that you're really cute when you're so love-struck. So don't worry about having crushes, because at the end of the day, they're just crushes. When you find the One, you'll know. And so will he."

It struck him, as Rachel smiled at him with watering eyes and thanked him for being so sweet and understanding, that he should probably take his own advice. Crushes were just crushes.

So he should stop being so overly dramatic about this situation with Kurt, and just be a friend to him while he waited for this crush to go away.

"C'mon, let's go sit with the others." He told Rachel, standing and offering his hand to her.

And the smiles from the rest of the group, including Kurt, when he and Rachel sat down with them, were enough to convince him that he'd been right.

A crush wasn't the end of the world. He'd be okay.

* * *

"Have you noticed anything... _odd_ about Rachel recently?" Kurt asked Blaine carefully, as they left English. Mercedes was still inside the classroom, talking to their teacher.

Blaine waved goodbye to Rachel, since she was bouncing up and down waving to him and obviously wanting him to respond before she went to her next lesson, and then turned to frown at Kurt. "How do you mean, odd?"

It was a few days after the whole crush fiasco, and he'd calmed down completely. So what if he got butterflies in his stomach when he first saw Kurt every day, and couldn't stop smiling when on the phone to him? So what if he thought about him a lot more than he should? It was just a crush, and it would go away. He'd had crushes before.

So everything had gone back to normal, and he'd apologised to Tina, though her knowing smile had worried him.

"I mean..." Kurt stared after the brunette girl as she walked away. "She's usually all over Finn, but ever since Ballad week, she's been... well, not."

"But that's a good thing." Blaine pointed out.

"No, I meant, she's been acting more like..." Kurt stared at him for a moment, then nodded. "You're right, I guess." At that point, Mercedes emerged from the classroom. "C'mon, Cedes, time for History." He hooked his arm through hers and dragged her away.

Blaine stared after them, thoroughly confused, before heading slowly to Geography, which he shared with Tina.

"What's up?" She asked, almost the second he sat down next to her.

"Kurt just asked me if there's anything odd about Rachel." Blaine began, mind still ticking over what had just happened.

"There are many odd things about Rachel." Tina responded wryly, getting out her stuff for the lesson.

"No, like... crush-wise. But I don't know what he means." Blaine bit his lip. "Do you know what he meant?"

Tina looked blank for a moment, before giggling. "Nope, no clue." She said innocently, before sitting up and paying attention as their teacher walked in.

Leaving Blaine ever more confused than before.

* * *

"What was that all about?" Mercedes asked Kurt, the second they were out of earshot of the other two.

"I think Rachel likes Blaine." Kurt told her, before biting his lip. How was he going to explain that it wouldn't work out between those two, without revealing Blaine's secret?

"Really?" Mercedes blinked a few times. "I think you're right. So... what's the problem?"

"Uh, Blaine doesn't like her. She's not really... his type." Kurt hedged, not sure how to explain this.

"Does he like Tina?" She asked, eyes widening a little.

"Um... maybe?" Kurt responded, confused. But he supposed that idea made sense. Blaine had been growing closer to Tina recently, and she was a perfectly sweet girl. In fact, he'd probably have guessed that Blaine liked Tina, had it not been for the fact that he knew Blaine was gay.

Mercedes smiled.

"No interfering." Kurt warned her. "We don't need any more teenage pregnancies."

"I wasn't going to interfere. But for the record, they'd be really cute together." Mercedes told him.

Kurt wasn't sure how to respond to that. They probably would, he mused. In a way, it was rather unfortunate that Blaine was gay.

... did Blaine have any crushes? He'd never really thought to ask, somehow. Then again, things had been a bit weird between them for a while, after Kurt had visited his house. He'd thought about it afterwards and realised that it was probably how open he'd been about his crush on Finn while in the presence of Julia. It had already been hinted that she wasn't exactly happy with the idea of homosexuality, and he'd been fully flaunting it. So that must have been why Blaine was weird with him for a while. But they'd gone back to normal a few days later, so Blaine must've gotten over it.

Either way, he was glad they were okay again now.


	11. Chapter 11: Imagine

**A/N: Hi, sorry it's been a while! I couldn't update over Christmas, and then I had exams, and lots of crap happened, but I'm back now, and hopefully updating every 2 weeks.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Glee, I'd write Will off of it.**

**Chapter Eleven: Imagine.**

"Kurt, why is Rachel walking around dressed like... well, like the complete opposite of how she usually does?" Blaine asked Kurt carefully, watching Rachel walk past them dressed in a short skirt and skimpy vest-top. "I mean... you went to her house yesterday, and now she's all dressed up. I figure you had something to do with that, though I may be making giant leaps in deduction here." He raised an eyebrow at him.

Kurt smirked, opening his locker and watching Rachel over Blaine's shoulder with a proud expression on his face. "I gave her a makeover." He said, in a triumphant tone of voice.

"Why? You hate her." Blaine pointed out gently, a suspicion slowly sneaking up on him.

Kurt paused in the act of spraying his hair, and bit his lip, which gave Blaine his answer. "I enjoy giving makeovers, Blaine. Is that really so surprising?"

Blaine crossed his arms and stared at him.

"Fine. I did it to sabotage her, because she's in love with Finn and wants to steal him away from me- I mean, from Quinn. Are you happy now?" Kurt asked, before putting his hairspray bottle back in his locker, slamming the door a little harder than usual.

"It seems to have made him more attracted to her." Blaine commented, with a shrug. He hoped this failure would be the end of the matter, but he had a feeling it wasn't going to stop here. Kurt was really obsessing over Finn, and might actually be in love with him, much as Blaine hated to admit it. This was going to continue. And it was all going to finish in tears.

Kurt gave him a self-satisfied smile. "Yeah, until Friday night, when he goes to her house and she dresses up as Sandy from Grease, which is exactly the opposite of his preferred type of girl. He's totally turned off, she's incredibly humiliated, they never talk to or even look at each other again... Objective achieved."

Gaping a little, Blaine shook his head before shutting his mouth, then opening it again. "Kurt-"

"Oh, she's done talking to Finn. I have to go." Kurt gave him a little wave before hurrying off after Rachel.

Mouth gaping open a little, Blaine shook his head. As Kurt's best friend, he was aware that he should do something about this, but... well, what harm would it do? Finn wasn't likely to cheat on his pregnant girlfriend, so the worst thing that could happen would be Rachel getting humiliated in front of him.

Actually, that was quite bad.

But there wasn't much he could do about it. Rachel was more likely to listen to Kurt than him, since she'd known Kurt longer.

Plus, he did kind of admire Kurt's plan. It was pretty genius. And anyway, maybe this whole thing would show Kurt that Finn wasn't going to be interested in anyone other than Quinn.

Although that might change when Finn found out that Puck was the father of her baby. He'd have to find out eventually, right? Quinn couldn't hide it forever. And even if she could, the gossip system at the school would get the information out.

This was not going to end well.

* * *

"You set me up! With Finn!"

Kurt smiled inwardly at the sweet sound of Rachel's indignant voice, and turned to face her. "Looks like someone is running for drama queen again." He told her icily.

"How could you do that? I thought we were friends."

She was obviously even crazier than he'd thought she was. Any guilt he might have felt was completely wiped. "And what made you think that?" Maybe he needed to spend more time insulting her, then she'd get the hint. "You should be thanking me. All I did was help you realise that your schoolgirl fantasy of running off with Finn was nothing but a fairy tale."

A look of realisation dawned on her face. "You like him." She paused, searching his face. "Yeah. That's- that's what this is. And you were just trying to eliminate the competition." She accused him, angrily.

"I was just helping him understand that you are not a viable second choice." Kurt told her, shaken at her discovery of his secret. Only Mercedes and Blaine knew so far, and he wasn't happy about the idea of _Rachel Berry_ knowing, of all people. He turned around to leave and nearly walked into Blaine, whose worried expression told Kurt that he'd heard what Rachel had just said. Shaking his head at his friend, he began walking off, ending the conversation.

Apparently, Rachel had other ideas.

"You think I'm a second choice?" She called, before running after him.

Kurt rolled his eyes at Blaine, who had trotted along with him, before turning to face her. "A distant second." Kurt said scathingly, looking her up and down. Honestly, what would anyone see in her? She was ugly in personality _and_ in fashion sense.

"You think I'm living in a fairy tale? If I were second, or if I were fiftieth, I'd still be ahead of you, because I'm a girl."

That hurt, Kurt had to admit. He knew Finn was straight, but you couldn't choose who you loved. And maybe he had no chance, but neither did Rachel.

Anyway, there was also the possibility that Finn might not be completely straight. No boy that cute could be straight. It just wasn't fair.

"Okay, here's the dope, princess. There's no hope for either of us. He loves Quinn. They're having a baby together. We're nothing but distractions. The sooner we realise that, the better." Kurt told her.

Blaine looked between them and shuffled his feet awkwardly.

Rachel turned and stalked off.

"A little harsh, Kurt." Blaine muttered, watching her go with a sympathetic look in his eyes.

"Aren't you supposed to be on my side?" Kurt asked, a little indignantly.

"I am, it's just... no-one's really _nice_ to her, Kurt. And I get that she's kind of self-obsessed, and pretty much only interested in what she wants, but she doesn't really have anyone. I feel bad for her, is all." Blaine shrugged slightly. "But I'm glad you've come to your senses." He added, with a smile.

"Come to my senses?" Kurt frowned.

"Well, you recognise that you have no hope with Finn." Blaine's smile faded a little.

"There is hope yet. I have many master plans to put into action." Kurt explained, a small smile on his face.

Blaine groaned quietly.

"Do you have a problem, Blaine?" Kurt asked, folding his arms and going on the defensive.

"Yes, actually! Kurt, I support you in everything you do, you know that. But this... _obsession _with Finn Hudson is not healthy! I get that you like him, I do, Kurt, I really do, but you can't keep chasing after him like this. You're just going to get hurt."

Kurt stared at Blaine for a few moments, and something in him deflated. He nodded slightly, crossing his arms a little tighter, hugging himself. "Logically, I know. But I can't let go of the fantasy."

"You don't have to let go just yet, just... don't do anything ridiculous, yeah?" Blaine said seriously, before smiling. "Don't go coming to school in a catsuit."

"Oh my God, Blaine." Kurt blushed and glared a little at him.

"I have images of Rachel Berry in a catsuit, Kurt. Images I'll never be free of." Blaine pouted at him.

Kurt burst out laughing, just as the bell rang. "I'm going to go to my class. You can go to yours, and attempt to cleanse your brain." He told Blaine, giving him a pat on the shoulder before heading off.

It was weird, but he was actually glad Blaine had said that. The Blaine he'd first met would never have been confident enough to come out with something like that. And though it hurt him to think of taking Blaine's advice, he could see that it was a little true. Or maybe a lot true. But he really didn't want to think about it. So he pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind and concentrated on his schoolwork.

* * *

"Mr Schue has gone crazy." Kurt told Blaine, as soon he heard the phone being picked up. "He's given us all wigs and is demanding that we do a mash up of Hair and Crazy in Love for Sectionals. I'm 100% serious. The routine involves hair-swishing and generally looking like an idiot. I thought it was a fun idea to start with, but then I realised he wanted us to perform in the stupid things."

Blaine laughed. "A wig? Really?"

"Mine's blonde." Kurt told him, rolling over onto his stomach and inspecting his nails.

"I would pay to see you in that wig." Blaine said fervently.

"Yeah, well, you will do so in a few weeks, at Sectionals." Kurt told him grumpily.

"Ah, good. Doesn't it ruin your perfectly styled hair, though?" Blaine asked, a hint of teasing in his voice.

Kurt narrowed his eyes, even though Blaine couldn't see him. "You're one to talk, Mr Hair-Gel Helmet."

"If you saw what my hair looked like without that helmet of gel, you would start buying the gel for me and sending me daily reminders to use it."

Ears pricking up, Kurt asked, "Oh, really?" Well, this was intriguing. And he was suddenly very interested in hunting down pictures of Blaine with his natural hair.

"It's... curly, and huge, and... it looks terrible. Especially if there's electricity around, or it's humid."

"When did you start gelling it?" Kurt asked curiously.

There was a pause. "Uh, I don't know, since I was a kid." There was a strange note to his voice, of sadness or melancholy or something.

"As young as that? Wow, you must have been really interested in picking up chicks when you were in kindergarten." Kurt teased, wanting to get rid of that note in Blaine's voice.

"I wasn't quite that young, Kurt. Just because you exited the womb wearing the latest fashion." Blaine said, with a laugh.

Kurt gave the phone an indignant look. "I'm hanging up on you now."

"Awh, c'mon, Kurt, don't be like that. I'm sure you would've won the 'Best Dressed Baby' competition if you hadn't still been wrapped in a blanket over your clothes."

"Blaine, we are no longer friends, as of right now." Kurt told him sternly.

There was a noise that sounded like protest on the other end of the line, and Kurt 'hmph'ed before putting the phone down.

Kurt received a text a few seconds later: _I know you love me really. :D_

He rolled his eyes. _See you tomorrow, Blaine. And remember, my fashion sense is not a thing that is to be made fun of._

_See you then. Yeah, it's a thing of greatness._

_That it is, and don't you forget it. Goodnight. :)_

_Goodnight, Kurt._

* * *

Rachel had a crush on Blaine.

She was being pathetically obvious, in Kurt's opinion. Not that she'd ever been particularly subtle about Finn, but this really took the biscuit. It seemed like she was throwing all her energy into chasing after Blaine, just to get over Finn. Kurt almost felt bad for Blaine. But the relief over the fact that she'd stopped chasing after Finn overruled that. And, really, it was entertaining to see how ridiculous she was acting. The other day, she'd actually baked him _cupcakes_.

The best part was how oblivious Blaine was.

"Blaine, I value your opinion more than anyone else's. Do you think I should sing My Heart Will Go On or Total Eclipse of the Heart in Glee club this week?" Rachel asked Blaine at lunchtime, eyes wide with enthusiasm.

Kurt rolled his eyes for the thousandth time that week. Mercedes looked like she wanted to do so, but hadn't the energy. Artie and Tina were both absent because they were on a school trip. Lucky them.

In the last two weeks, she'd been getting worse and worse. Yesterday, she'd brought Blaine a teddy bear. The bear in question was holding a giant heart that said "I love you" on it. Kurt had nearly thrown up when he saw it. Blaine just thought she was being sweet and friendly.

"I think you should go with a more optimistic song, Rachel. A happy, I'm-getting-over-you-and-moving-on song." Blaine told her.

She positively _glowed_ at the suggestion. Kurt fought the urge to bash his head against the table. It was so obvious that she thought Blaine wanted her to move on and be with him. Blaine was too nice, that was his problem.

"Goodbye, by Kristina DeBarge." She breathed, and squeezed Blaine's arm. "Maybe you could come and watch, Blaine. You absolutely have to come along and watch me sing again sometime. I always enjoy having an appreciative audience, and it's so hard to find in that room."

Kurt almost throttled her. Blaine had only come to Glee club to support _him_!

"I'll try and free up a day." Blaine smiled at her, before getting up to go and dispose of his plate and cutlery, helpfully taking hers and Kurt's at the same time, which probably earned her everlasting gratitude.

Kurt leant in to glare at her. This would have been a more effective gesture if she hadn't been staring after Blaine as he walked away. Kurt coughed sharply, and she turned to look at him, expression shifting from dreamy to defensive. "What?"

"Please, Rachel. I know what you're doing. And he's not interested." This he could say with certainty.

"Does he like someone else?" She asked, looking disappointed.

"Well, no," Kurt admitted.

A triumphant smile appeared on her face. "Then you don't know that, do you? Within a month, he'll be mine. You'll see."

Blaine returned, and the two of them went back to talking. Kurt shook his head in disbelief, getting up to leave. Mercedes followed.

"Can't she see he's not interested?" Kurt muttered, casting a look over his shoulder. Blaine waved at him.

Mercedes nudged him. "Boo, remember, I chased after _you, _and you were even less interested in me than he is in her."

Kurt wanted to tell her that this wasn't actually this case, but he couldn't break Blaine's trust like that. "She's just doing this to try and get over Finn. She's still head-over-heels for him. Earlier, in class, I caught her murmuring 'he's so adorable' while he was asleep. Asleep and _drooling_, Cedes. Even I found that disgusting, and I'm in love with him!" He lowered his voice for the last part, not wanting anyone else to find out. It was bad enough that Rachel knew, although thankfully she wasn't a gossip. No-one would listen to her even if she was.

"I know. I just hope all this ends before someone gets hurt." She shook her head.

"That's not exactly likely." What with the baby drama, the crushes...

"I hope everything stays stable until Sectionals, at least. We need everyone for the performance, and that's not gonna happen if the truth gets out."

She was right. The club probably wouldn't stay together after a scandal as big as this one got out. At the moment, everything depended on Rachel not finding out about Puck being the father of Quinn's baby.

* * *

"Blaine, can you sing?"

Blaine jumped and looked up from the contents of his locker, staring at Rachel, who had been the one to speak. She was stood next to him, looking curious. "Uh... what?"

"Can you sing?" She gazed at him for a moment, before stepping closer with a smile. "You're the only member of our little group who isn't in Glee club, and I was worried that you felt a little... left out."

"Oh, you're too kind, Rach. But, honestly, I don't feel at all left out. I mean, you guys tell me what's been going on, and I don't have any particular inclination to sing about my feelings. I don't actually have any strong feelings at the moment." Blaine told her, completely taken aback by what she was saying.

She seemed unsure of what to say next. "Well, that's good."

Shutting his locker, he smiled at her, then turned and walked away.

A few moments later, she was at his shoulder. "W-well, _can_ you sing? As you know, I'm the female lead in the Glee club, and I'm beginning to think that Finn is simply not suitable for the male lead."

"I'm... not too bad, I guess, but I'm not a great singer. Certainly not as good as Finn." Kurt had actually told him that he was just as good as Finn, which was extremely high praise, but he didn't want to admit this to her.

"Damn it." She looked so disappointed that he almost broke down and told her the truth.

"I know you're getting over him, but I thought you liked Finn?" He asked carefully, not wanting to upset her.

"He hurt me. I deserve someone better. Someone who really likes me." There was an odd expression on her face as she stared at him.

"You really do, Rach." He patted her shoulder. "And you'll find him." They stopped at the end of the corridor, since their classes were in opposite directions, and faced each other. "You never know, he might be right in front of you." He offered.

"I think he is." She looked a little dazed as she stared at him.

"Good for you, Rach. Stay positive." He smiled at her, before spinning on his heel to get to class.

Tina was watching the pair of them from a few metres away, barely-disguised amusement on her face. As he reached her, he raised his eyebrows at her in question.

"Do you not see it, Blaine?" She questioned, glancing over her shoulder at Rachel, and rolling her eyes.

"See what?" He asked, digging in his bag to check that he'd got the right books for this class.

"She has a huge crush on you!" Tina exclaimed, rolling her eyes as he gaped at her. "Seriously, Blaine, how oblivious are you?" She nudged him.

"Coming from you." He nudged her, and frowned slightly, taking in this new information, trying to work out what to do about it. Obviously, he couldn't date her. He wasn't at all interested in her gender, which would be rather a huge flaw in that relationship. Unless they decided not to have... wait, why was he thinking about this so deeply? He wasn't going to date Rachel, full stop.

"I don't really know what's happening with me and Artie." Tina sighed, before rather obviously changing the subject. He accepted the change, knowing that what had happened between her and Artie was still a sore spot for her. "What are you going to do about Rachel?"

"I don't know. I need to find some way to let her down easy. I haven't had much practice at rejection. Or, y'know, any." No-one at Westerville had wanted him, after all.

Tina giggled. "You won't get any practice here. People aren't exactly lining up to date us. Which is a shame, because you would be getting a lot of girls if you were popular."

"And straight." Blaine said dryly, though he appreciated her sentiments.

She laughed. "It'd be perfect, if you were popular. We'd pretend to be dating, you'd break all the girls' hearts, and I'd be the most wanted girl in the school."

"Ah, how perfect life would be." Though it didn't sound too bad, it just wasn't him.

"That sounded like sarcasm, Mister."

"Well, life isn't too bad for me right now. The popular crowd mainly ignore me, apart from yelling names at me, and the occasional locker slam. I think I've flown under the radar, because I haven't joined any clubs. I mean, you were ignored before you joined Glee, weren't you?" He asked, although he knew it wasn't just because of the club. It was at least partly due to the way he tried to blend in, while the others stood out. They shone, and he just sort of feebly glowed.

"I still am, for the most part. It's Kurt who has it the worst, no matter how much Rachel complains about getting her lipstick flushed down the toilet. He's in Glee club _and_ openly gay. And everyone knew long before he came out, anyway. Apart from Mercedes." A slight smile twitched her lips at the memory.

Blaine nodded. "Life at this school isn't easy for anyone, but Kurt does get it worse than all of us."

A crowd of cheerleaders rushed past them, bumping into them both and nearly knocking Tina off of her feet. She scowled as she caught her balance, Blaine automatically reaching out to steady her. "Life's pretty trouble-free for them, don't you think?"

"Quinn's pregnant, Brittany's not exactly doing well in school... they look pretty happy, but they're struggling. You never know what's going on in someone's life." Blaine shrugged.

"What do you think Santana's problem is? Everyone just sucks too much?" She asked sarcastically.

"Probably. We are lower beings compared to her." They both giggled, though shut up as they reached their lesson, since their teacher was a she-demon. Still, Tina caught Blaine's eye several times during the hour and smiled at him.

He was glad he had her as a friend. She was sweet, and there was little chance of her developing a crush on him, since she knew he was gay.

Unlike Rachel.

He needed to talk to her.

* * *

Rachel was watching the football practice from the stands. Since she did this a lot, it wasn't hard for Blaine to find her.

He sat down next to her and gave her a smile. "Hi."

"Oh, hey, Blaine." She looked away from staring at Finn, and smiled at him.

The difference between the way she looked at Finn and the way she looked at him was obvious. "You really love him, don't you?" He asked gently.

She was quiet for a moment. "I wish I didn't. Sometimes, when I see him with Quinn, I feel like my heart's going to rip in two. But then he smiles at me, and... it's like the entire world disappears, and all I see is him. All I _want_ to see is him."

Blaine bit his lip. "You don't feel that way about me."

Blushing, she shook her head. "I was just trying to get over Finn. I'm sorry if I hurt you."

She genuinely did seem sorry, which was nice. Though she could be self-obsessed, she didn't set out to hurt people. It was just a side effect of her need to be the winner.

"No, no, quite the opposite. I was worried that you were serious about me. No offence, Rachel, but... you're not my type." That was an understatement.

She looked relieved.

"I'm sorry about Finn, by the way." Her mouth twisted down unhappily at the reminder, and she looked back out at the football players. Blaine reached out to touch her shoulder. "But, Rach, you won't feel like this about him forever." He paused, wondering what advice to give her. "From here, you have three options. One: He breaks up with Quinn for you, which I admit is very unlikely. Two: You feel miserable for the next three years, because you love him and he doesn't love you. Three: You don't let yourself think about him, and you focus on becoming a star." Blaine told her.

After taking a deep breath, she nodded, and turned her head to look at him again. "I wish I was in love with you. It'd be easier. You're a lot nicer than he is." She sighed. "Thank you, Blaine." She moved closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder, staring out over the field. "Does it ever get easier?"

He thought of Kurt, of the way he felt whenever he saw him, of the way he hoped that every text or incoming call was from him, of the way his heartbeat accelerated when they touched. "I hope so. Loving someone you can't have is really, really hard." He realised what he'd just admitted, and shut himself up, a few seconds too late.

She pulled away from him to look him in the eye, expression serious. "It's Kurt, isn't it?"

He shook his head violently. "No. Why would you think that?" How did she guess? What if she told everyone? He couldn't handle being outed. Not again.

His feelings must have shown on his face, because she took his hand and squeezed it. "I was suspicious, and you just confirmed it. You're not really obvious, honestly. But sometimes I see you looking at him the same way I look at Finn. And honestly, you dress too well to be straight." She shook her head, seeing the panic on his face. "I won't tell anyone. I like you, Blaine. And I hope it works out between you and Kurt. You'd be great together." She stood up, and he realised that football practice was over. "You should tell Tina. She's your best friend – apart from Kurt – and I know she knows you're gay, because she was holding back laughter the other day when Mercedes asked if any girls had caught your eye. And you need someone to talk to about this stuff."

Blaine blinked at her. "You're a lot more observant than people give you credit for, aren't you?"

She smiled at him before walking away.

He sat there for a long while, running her parting words through his mind.

Rachel was right, and that was probably the first and last time he'd ever think that.

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed this! **


	12. Chapter 12: Jump

**A/N: Hi, me again! So, this update took longer than I'd hoped, mainly because I was distracted by a guest who took all of my attention for a week. The next one should be up in the week beginning the 18th, because I have mock exams next week.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Glee, I would drop out of college.**

**Chapter Twelve: Jump.**

Artie, Mercedes, Kurt, and Tina were at their usual lunchtime table when Blaine walked into the lunch hall. They were discussing the Glee photos, he realised, as he sat down between Tina and Kurt. Or, rather, the lack of said photos. He swapped a smile with Kurt and start eating his lunch, since there wasn't much he could contribute to this conversation.

It was at times like this that Blaine almost wished that he were in the Glee club. Or some sort of club, at least. The photos of the clubs, for this year's _Thunderclap_, were being taken soon, and he wasn't going to be in any of them. Which meant he wasn't going to be in his yearbook, except for his class photo. It saddened him somewhat that the yearbook wasn't ever going to be something he could show his kids. Well, the hypothetical kids that he may never have.

"I can't believe Rachel asked me to be in the Glee club picture with her." Artie shook his head. "I think she's getting desperate."

"Either that, or she just considers us her friends." Mercedes made a face, as if both options were equally bad. Blaine was pretty sure she was half-joking. They all complained about Rachel, but he could tell that they at least admired her voice, even if they weren't so fond of her personality. And he got the feeling they were fond of her, even if it was usually fond exasperation they were feeling towards her...

"What's so bad about being in the photo?" Blaine asked them, confused. "I mean, I get that people deface the yearbook photos, but..." They were acting like it was more than that. After all, popularity had never really mattered to any of them, or they wouldn't have joined Glee in the first place. They wanted to belong, not to a crowd who didn't really care, but to a group where they could be themselves. More and more, Blaine was seeing the appeal in joining the Glee club. Especially now the bullies were beginning to notice him more. He was no longer the new kid: he was a friend of 'Homo Explosion'. He'd actually had spit balls thrown at him the other day in class; the bullying was getting steadily worse.

"One of the past members of the Glee club whose photo got defaced had a mental breakdown and is now the homeless man who lives outside the public library. Another Glee club member, dead, in a manner eerily predicted by the graffiti on her photo." Kurt told Blaine, exchanging glances with the others around the table, who all looked solemn.

Blaine blinked at him, slightly frightened by this information. "The kids are this school are vicious." He'd already got a taste of how vicious, though he knew that Kurt got the worst of it.

"They're vicious at every school," Kurt said.

"I know." Blaine muttered, and could practically _sense_ the curious looks being swapped. "So, who's doing the photo with Rachel, then?" He asked, to change the subject. Diversion was an excellent tactic. And since they were teenagers, they all had a short attention span, so it worked like a charm.

"I don't know." Mercedes shrugged. "Nobody wants to be in the photo."

"She'd probably ask you, if you were in the club." Tina grinned, nudging him.

Blaine rolled his eyes at her as the others all sniggered. "No, she wouldn't, I talked to her yesterday and- here she comes, shh."

Rachel was indeed heading for them, with a determined look on her face. She reached the table and glared at them all, arms folded. "I'd just like to thank you all for the support you've shown for the Glee club so far." This was laden with sarcasm, unsurprisingly.

Tina shrank down in her seat a little, presumably to prevent Rachel from noticing and asking her. Blaine was pretty sure that Rachel wasn't entirely aware that Tina existed. Rachel didn't always sit with them at lunchtime, though, sometimes preferring to spend her time watching Finn from somewhere safe where Kurt wouldn't made snide comments about it. She was also spending more and more time talking to Finn. Considering how close they were, it was a very good thing that she didn't know about Puck being the father. She would definitely tell him.

"Kurt-" Rachel began, turning to him with a terrifying smile and a stare that most human beings would crumble under.

"No." Kurt was not easily swayed, especially by the likes of Rachel Berry.

She scowled. Blaine took pity on her. "Sit down, Rach." He grabbed her hand to pull her towards him, and she ceded, sitting down next to him and rooting in her bag for her lunch. She brought her own food to school, since the vegetarian option wasn't usually vegan-friendly.

There were a few moments of silence, then: "Are none of you proud of being in Glee club?" Rachel asked, looking around the table with an indignant expression.

"Rachel, we all get enough crap every day for being in the club. If we were in the photo, it'd just be more reason for them to hate on us. We want to survive high school." Mercedes shrugged.

As Rachel opened her mouth to respond, Tina interrupted quickly. "So, what are everyone's plans for Christmas?"

"I don't celebrate Christmas." Rachel said, and all of them rolled their eyes at her. "But I will be celebrating Hanukkah with my dads." She began eating her food, which was just as well since lunch time would be over in 25 minutes.

"My mom's surprising my dad with a trip to Yellowstone National Park. He's always wanted to go. And they can't leave me at home alone, so I'm being dragged out there too." Mercedes told them, looking unenthusiastic.

"Oh, come on, you're going to love it. You can stay indoors, keep warm, and watch for animals." Kurt said.

She smiled. "Yeah, I know. I'll miss you all, though."

"I'm just staying at home with my family." Artie shrugged, glancing at Tina, who nodded to indicate that she was too. "I can't really leave the house much during the winter months, since it's hard for me to keep warm. I can't exactly jump up and down."

The sympathetic quiet lasted a few moments, before Mercedes spoke. "I know you're staying in with your dad, Kurt. What about you, Blaine?"

Blaine felt everyone's eyes on him and froze slightly. "Uh, well, we were supposed to be going up to visit Cooper, but, uh, he had to cancel at the last minute, so we're having my grandparents over, instead..." He trailed off.

"Sounds fun." Mercedes smiled.

It would be the opposite of fun. If it were his mom's parents who were coming, he'd be more excited. But it was his dad's parents. Meaning his grandmother would sit around and complain until she fell asleep, and his grandfather would make disparaging comments about Blaine's sexuality and ask Blaine's dad why he hadn't "sent him to one of those camps to fix him up". To which the answer was that Blaine's mom wouldn't allow it. She wasn't good at standing up to his dad, but she'd always maintained that Blaine didn't need _fixing_.

The talk turned to a discussion about the chances of it snowing this Christmas (very high) and the chances that their teachers would be lax with the homework-setting (very low). Blaine shook off the thoughts about his family and Christmas, and joined in the conversation. After all, there were still 3 weeks to go until Christmas. And Sectionals was in a week. He had that to look forward to, at least.

* * *

"So, I guess Rachel's back to chasing Finn again." Tina muttered to Blaine, as they walked past the choir room after their final lesson of the day, where Rachel was practically salivating over the uncomfortable-looking footballer.

"Well, maybe if he falls for her, he won't be so mad when he finds out about Quinn." Blaine said thoughtfully, shaking his head a little at the faint sound of the song Smile coming from the room. It looked like this rendezvous was more about the Glee club photo than about romance.

"True. And it means she's stopped chasing after you." Tina nudged him and grinned. "So, you talked to her, yeah? What did she say?"

"She wasn't upset. I mean, she knew as well as we did that she was just focussing on me to stop thinking about Finn. And, well, she knows." He admitted, needing to tell someone, having not had the chance to discuss it with Kurt yet.

"Knows?" Tina stopped, turning to him, expression serious. "Wait, she knows that you're gay?" She whispered the last word, conscious of the busy hallway. No-one was paying attention to them anyway, but it wasn't worth the risk of someone overhearing and spreading the news. Blaine was going to come out on his own terms, this time.

"Yeah. She's not going to tell anyone." He reassured her, confident of this.

Tina smiled. "Rachel's actually quite a good friend, when she isn't thinking of herself. But, that doesn't happen much." She raised her eyebrows at him when he didn't laugh. "Did she say something else?"

"Yeah. She, uh, figured something else out." Glancing around to check nobody was in hearing distance, he lowered his voice. "Tina... I like Kurt."

For a few seconds, she stared at him, eyebrows still raised in what he presumed was shock. That is, until she opened her mouth. "And...?"

"That-that's kind of it. Did you know?" Now he was the one in shock. Was he that obvious? If so, he really needed to tone it down.

"Blaine Anderson, I like to think I know you well enough by now to be able to work out that you have it bad for one of my closest friends." She nudged him.

A little panicked, he asked, "Am I really obvious?"

"No, you're not, honestly. Mercedes and Artie have no idea, and they spend nearly as much time with you as I do. Even Kurt doesn't have a clue."

"Good." Blaine sighed. "It's stupid of me to be so into him. I mean, he's... he really doesn't feel the same about me."

"No, he's too busy making eyes at Finn."

"So you've noticed, huh?"

"Yeah." She admitted. "It's not like he tries that hard to hide it, though. I hope it doesn't continue for too much longer."

"I think he's still convinced that there's a chance that Finn will turn gay. And he's not ready to let go of that conviction."

"I hope he does, and soon." They stopped at Kurt's locker. "Why are you still here, anyway? Don't you have to go met your mom?"

It was true that his mom was currently waiting to give him a lift home, but he had news, and he wanted to tell Kurt first. "Yeah, but I have news."

She gave him a curious look as Kurt reached them. "Hi, Tina, sorry I'm late." He said, a little breathlessly.

"Oh, we have plenty of time. Finn and Rachel were practising when we walked past just now."

Kurt's expression suggested that he thought that was not "plenty of time" and that it was, in fact, an adequate reason to burst into the choir room right away.

"I have to go, but I just wanted to tell you both something." Blaine grinned. "I can finally drive myself to school, starting Monday. So I'll actually be able to hang out after school more often. If you want to, of course." He added.

Tina looked pleased, but rolled her eyes. "Of course we want to hang out with you, Blaine."

Kurt had one of _those_ looks on his face. "Does this mean you can come over and watch The Sound of Music sometime? He's never seen it," he added to Tina, who bit her lip in order to hide her amused smile.

"I guess so." Blaine did want to watch it, really, he did. It was just such a long film and he spent most of his time out of school travelling to school and doing homework, and... well, yeah, it was an excuse to spend time with Kurt.

"It'll be quite late by the time we've gotten out of school and watched it. You could stay over, but I don't know if dad would be happy with that." Kurt mused.

"Hold on, when did you turn 16?" Tina asked Blaine, giving him a shocked look. It must have just occurred to her that he'd have to be 16 to drive to school by himself.

"Uh, October the 3rd."

The two looked shocked. "And you didn't think to mention it?" Kurt demanded, obviously displeased.

"I just... didn't think it was that big of a deal." Blaine said, unsure of how else to respond. He really _hadn't_ thought it was that big of a deal. The last time he'd made a big deal out of his birthday was when he was 10. Since then, he just received some presents from his parents (and Cooper, usually a few days late) on his birthday and nothing more was said about it, apart from a "Happy Birthday, Blaine, hon!" from his mother.

They both gaped at him.

Blaine glanced at his watch. "I really have to go. See you both tomorrow?" He smiled at them both before walking away down the corridor towards the exit.

"I'm giving you two Christmas presents!" Kurt called after him.

"I'm giving you THREE, because I'm a better best friend than Kurt!" Tina yelled, before giggling as Kurt made an indignant noise.

The sounds of their playful arguing followed Blaine out of the door. He was still smiling as he reached the car.

"Spending time with Kurt?" His mom asked as he climbed in. Her tone was a little stiff.

As his smile faded, the thought crossed his mind that he should respond with 'yeah, we were screwing in the boys' bathroom'. Since he didn't want to be grounded for the rest of forever, he shrugged in a non-committal way.

"Don't shrug, Blaine. I asked you a question." She snapped, before closing her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath and opening them again. "I'm sorry, my kids were running wild today, and I don't feel very well."

"Kurt and Tina." Blaine told her, watching her with concern as she put the car into drive and pulled out of the parking space. "Are you okay to drive, mom?" He asked, recognising all the signs of a bad day and feeling glad he hadn't chosen to reply in the way he'd thought of.

She stopped the car, looking ready to cry. "Maybe not."

"C'mon, I'll drive." He grabbed his bag and dug through the glove compartment to find some Tylenol before he opened his door and they swapped sides, Blaine handing the drink and Tylenol once he was seated. "So, what happened with the kids?"

* * *

"That was _awesome_." Kurt was practically bouncing up and down with joy. "We're going to be on TV. Imagine where we could be a year from now... movies, TV _shows_, Broadway..." The last word elicited a squeal from Rachel.

They'd just finished the final take for the mattress commercial and were now standing outside of the shop. Kurt wasn't the only one who was excited about their future prospects. They all were. Any doubts they had about how much this would actually change their lives had been swept away by the shared thrill of being on TV. Even if it didn't cause their careers to take off, they were actually going to be _on TV._

"I can't wait to tell my parents!" They all grinned at Artie's words: just one more thing to be excited about.

"I bet Mr Schuester will be really proud of us." Rachel's eyes were sparkling. "We performed that number without his help, and it was fantastic."

"Yeah, why do we even need him?" Artie asked.

"I don't need anyone, except maybe a publicist." Mercedes tossed her hair back, eliciting amused smiles from everyone.

Santana scoffed and checked her cell phone. "I better go. See you suckers in school." She tightened her ponytail and left.

This seemed to release them all from the spell they'd been under: the entire Glee club had, for one glorious hour or so, been in harmony – and not just singing-wise. But now, the popular members drifted away and the remaining five said their goodbyes to each other, wanting to go home and inform their families of the good news. They'd been given an idea of when the commercial would air, so they'd be able to show it to people.

Kurt couldn't wait.

* * *

"Turn on the TV!" Were the first words Kurt said when Blaine picked up the phone, voice breathless with excitement.

Blaine was used to be greeted by such odd messages on the phone. "I'm already watching it. What channel?" It was a testament to their friendship that he didn't ask what he was supposed to be watching.

"Fox."

He pulled the remote towards him and switched channels, since it was only a re-run of Friends that he was watching. "Got it. Uh, what's so exciting about the news?" Maybe something awful had happened. Wait, Kurt had sounded excited. ... maybe something awful had happened to Rachel.

"Wait for it." Kurt's excitement was infectious, and Blaine found himself grinning even though he still had no clue what the heck was going on.

"It just switched to commercials, Kurt, I don't... _oh_."

The Glee club was on the screen.

He watched the commercial attentively, smiling at how cute Kurt looked in it and admiring the vocals, mostly provided by Finn and Rachel (as ever). And, yeah, admiring Kurt, who looked really adorable and cosy in his pyjamas.

When it ended, he simply breathed out "Wow," grabbing the remote and turning the TV off.

"Did you like it?" Kurt asked.

"It was awesome. How'd you land that?" He asked, getting up to go upstairs, since his dad was going to be home soon, and he should probably make a start on his homework.

"Rachel. The school photographer was filming the commercial and she managed to convince him that we could do it." Kurt explained.

"That's great! Has your dad seen it?" Blaine asked, trotting into the kitchen to grab himself a drink of water, lodging the phone between his ear and shoulder as he found a glass and filled it.

"Twice. He was pretty impressed, though he did ask why I didn't get a bigger singing role." Kurt told him.

"I'd like to ask that, too. Hey, they could've just had you singing for the entire commercial, that'd sell really well." Blaine said truthfully, retrieving his phone with his free hand and heading off upstairs.

He could practically _hear_ Kurt blushing and rolling his eyes. "Flatterer. I do agree with you, though."

"Of course you do, you've heard yourself sing." If Blaine had a voice like that, he'd join Glee club regardless of the consequences. And then demand every solo.

Oh god, he'd be a male version of Rachel Berry.

"Exactly."

Blaine reached his room and kicked the door shut as he entered, sitting down on his bed. "I should probably go, I haven't made a start on my homework yet and I'll have to make dinner soon."

"Same, actually." Kurt paused. "You make dinner?"

"Oh, uh, only when mom's not feeling well. And she had a rough day last week which turned out to be the first stages of the 'flu, so..." He shrugged, forgetting that Kurt couldn't see him over the phone. "And dad never wants to cook. Work is too tiring, apparently." He tried not to inject too much bitterness into the last statement. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye!" Kurt chirped.

He hung up with a smile on his face.

Right, homework time.

* * *

"I'm glad we already have a set list sorted out, or you just know that Rachel would be singing two solos at Sectionals." Kurt said irritably, as they left the choir room, having just been informed by Schue that he'd slept on a mattress. He hadn't fully explained why, simply saying that he'd had a fight with his wife. If they got divorced, Schue was definitely going to start chasing after Miss Pillsbury. That could be cute, though.

"She'll try to, knowing her." Mercedes added.

Kurt rolled his eyes skywards. "If there was a way for her to sing both parts of a duet, Finn would be relegated to back-up like the rest of us."

Mercedes nodded in agreement. "Someone needs to take that girl down a peg or two. If only you'd won the sing-off for Defying Gravity, that would've shown her." When Kurt didn't say anything in response, her expression shifted to one of guilt. "I'm sorry, boo. I know you're upset about that."

He really should have told her that he'd missed the note on purpose, but it was too late now. And besides, what if she didn't believe him? "It's fine."

Pulling out his phone, he sent a text off to Blaine: _Schue's gotten himself disqualified from Sectionals. We have to compete without him. _

"We'll place second, at the very least." He added, continuing their conversation.

Mercedes shrugged. "The deaf kids might get sympathy votes. We were all singing with them by the end of their number."

"We'll just have to hope that the judges are professionals who can judge by talent, rather than by how much they want to cry at the end." Kurt sighed, before checking his phone as it vibrated.

_Oh, dear, how the heck did he do that? At least *you* didn't get disqualified. I mean, I've already bought a ticket and everything!_

The text brought a smile to Kurt's face despite the dire situation. Messaging back to tell Blaine about the mattress, he glanced up and realised that Mercedes was half-smirking at him. "What?" He asked, instantly going on the defensive.

"Is there something you wanna tell me, Kurt?" She asked, nodding towards his phone.

"I'm just texting Blaine." He told her, holding his phone up as if in evidence, even though the screen was dark.

"I know." The half-smirk was still on her face.

It took him a second, but he got there. "Mercedes... there's nothing going on between Blaine and I." The idea was laughable. Sure, Blaine was gay – not that she actually knew that – but there was nothing there. They were best friends. Purely platonic.

"Not yet." She looked absurdly pleased with herself, as if she'd brought them together and waved a magic wand over them to make them fall in love.

"Mercedes, I like _Finn_." Had she forgotten, or did she think he'd given up on that crush? "And anyway, Blaine's straight."

Mercedes didn't look convinced. "That hasn't stopped you with Finn. And anyways, I'm pretty sure Blaine isn't. Straight, I mean."

He chose to ignore her first comment, focussed more on the second. "How do you know that?"

"He just... remember the other day, when I asked if any girls had caught his eye so far, and he went all quiet? I cornered him the next day to tell him that he should ask Tina out, and he told me that I was very sweet to say so but that he really wasn't interested in her, because she really wasn't his type, and I got the message. So... is he?"

Somewhat impressed with her deduction, Kurt nodded. "But there's honestly nothing going on between us, Cedes."

She stared at him for a moment, before nodding. "Okay." Giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, she waved and left.

He could swear he heard her mutter "Not yet" as she went, but maybe he was imagining things.

Checking his phone, he found he had a text from Blaine. _Oh, that sucks! _

_It'll be okay, as long as Berry doesn't take all the solos. Oh, and Mercedes knows, btw. That you're gay._

The reply came quickly. _You'd probably win, though, if she did. ... do girls all have second senses now?_

_Maybe. _He frowned at the next part. _Girls? Did I miss something?_

_Oh, Rachel knows, too. Maybe they just spend too much time around me._

At least Rachel wouldn't tell anyone. _Right, okay. Anyway, I need to get home, I'll call you later?_

_Ttyl! :)_

He snorted at Blaine's attempt to be one of the cool kids, before shoving his phone into his pocket and setting off for home.


End file.
